An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.
Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup Mujin , which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety. Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total funding up to $150 million. SBI Investment led the latest round, with participation from Pegasus Tech Ventures and Accenture, among others. Mujin declined to disclose its valuation. Carton Sealing Machine Gosunm
Founded in 2011 by Ross Diankov and Issei Takino, the company has built MujinController, which allows users to deploy and automate various applications for their industrial robots across manufacturing and logistics at a lower cost. CEO Diankov told TechCrunch that he decided to found Mujin in Japan, where many manufacturing and automation tech firms are located.
He describes the software platform as “the definitive brain for robots, an indispensable component that drives their intelligence and capabilities across various industries.”
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MujinController currently supports more than 1,000 systems in production and has already been adopted by a number of its strategic partners, including robot original equipment manufacturers like ABB, Fanuc, KUKA, Yaskawa, Universal Robots and Kawasaki, Diankov said.
Its platform is designed for picking and palletizing/de-palletizing e-commerce products. Earlier this year, the company unveiled a truck bot that can “unload trailers and shipping containers.”
Japanese logistics firm Paltac automated its manual palletizing process using Mujin Pack. The startup claims that it resulted in doubling productivity and about a 90% reduction in labor requirements of Paltac. Mujin’s precision piece-picking technology also allowed JD.com to solve the challenge of handling expensive, delicate items, according to the outfit.
“The MujinController introduces a unique approach to creating robotics applications, leveraging a real-time non-volatile digital twin and offering a suite of perception, planning and control algorithms to digitize the real world and autonomously move robots and other industrial equipment through it,” Diankove said in its statement.
Mujin will use the proceeds for product expansion to develop advanced solutions and applications that cater to evolving market demands and global expansion to extend its reach to new markets and customers across the globe.
The company has offices in the U.S., Japan and China with over 300 employees.
Fort is working to keep humans safe from industrial robots
The funding — co-led by existing investors Accel and Felicis — is being described as an extension of the company’s Series B rather than a Series C.<\/p>\n
“We weren\u2019t proactively trying to raise and were focused on building the business,” Tines’ CEO and co-founder Eoin Hinchy said in an interview. “Our existing investors saw our execution and approached us. We went from discussing what a round could look like to it being wrapped up in a couple of weeks.” He confirmed that it is not profitable currently by choice, to focus on growth.<\/p>\n
This actually makes this the second extension to Tines’ Series B in three years, with the original round appearing in 2021 (at $26 million<\/a>), and the first extension coming in October 2022 ($55 million<\/a>).<\/p>\n But it’s not without a valuation bump. Hinchy declined to disclose the numbers but other sources close to the company confirmed it’s now valued post-money at close to $600 million. (As a point of comparison, PitchBook data<\/a> notes that it was valued at $423 million at the first extension.) Others in this round include Addition, strategic backer CrowdStrike Falcon Fund and SVCI — all existing investors in Tines.<\/p>\n It has now raised some $146.2 million in total.<\/p>\n As we have previously described, the gap in the market that Tines is targeting comes from Hinchy’s and his co-founder Thomas Kinsella’s own direct experience. Hinchy is a classic technical founder. He and Kinsella (now chief customer officer) both spent around a decade<\/a> working in leading roles in cybersecurity for companies like DocuSign, eBay and Deloitte, where they found major gaps in the market for tools to help better manage the large number of services they used to track data and network activity for his companies.<\/p><\/div>\n All of that was compounded by not just the explosion of new cybersecurity techniques but also hacking risks that grew out of the rise of cloud computing and related innovations. Hinchy estimated to me that the average security team manages some 77 different products, with “some in the hundreds.”<\/p>\n “By 2017 we desperately needed a workflow automation tool, and really nothing out there came close to what we wanted, so we decided to build what we wish we had,” Hinchy said. Tines covers what he describes as “mission critical workflows” which in security include tools to monitor and track security alerts, compliance alerts and increasingly areas that are adjacent to where security teams need to have visibility such as employee onboarding and offboarding, patch management in IT and more.<\/p>\n “We are the plumbing between these systems,” he said.<\/p>\n Although Hinchy is technical himself, he saw that another gap was that a lot of the need for monitoring was best served by not having to be a technical solution in itself. The whole of Tines is conceptualized in a drag-and-drop, no-code framework, building blocks that aim to reduce the amount of time it takes to create and manage workflows on the platform.<\/p>\n That is where the opportunity lies also for Tines’ investors. Although there are definite and very large competitors in the market including Splunk (and now Cisco by virtue of having acquired Splunk this year<\/a>), Palo Alto Networks, ServiceNow and Microsoft, Tines and its backers and its users would contend that their focused and more context-aware approach are more useful and effective.<\/p>\n “Customer satisfaction is typically abysmally low in security,” Jake Storm, the partner at Felicis who led the deal, said in an interview. He said that he was surprised, when making due diligence calls when weighing up this latest deal, how different that was for Tines. “That’s just unheard of. It was just glaringly obvious that Tines was years ahead of its competitors back in 2022 and we just feel that gap has continued to widen.”<\/p>\n Luca Bocchio at Accel sees workflow as the key missing link, one that gives Tines a lot of potential to position itself further as a platform, not a service.<\/p>\n “If anything over the last few years, the growth of security needs has led to more security products and tools and that boils down to more workflow needs. That means Tines is becoming more relevant. With security being part of broader IT and business operations, it naturally needs to engage with the rest of the organization.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Automation continues to be a major theme in the enterprise — underscored not least by the rise of AI as a tool to help fix some of the more routine, resource-intensive and fragmented aspects of how security and other IT functions operate. To capitalize on that trend, one of the bigger startups in the space, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13119829,"featured_media":2530790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"aae9a109-d4ea-366a-801d-05489a68ef82","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:09:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"22dd1b3c-b5ad-4502-b08d-541164b3b5b5","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T12:11:09Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AIt0bPLWtRQKwjVQRZLO1tQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[449557044,21587494],"tags":[2395735,576788350,576708173,576596111],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nTines taps $50M to expand its workflow automation beyond security teams | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
But it’s not without a valuation bump. Hinchy declined to disclose the numbers but other sources close to the company confirmed it’s now valued post-money at close to $600 million. (As a point of comparison, PitchBook data<\/a> notes that it was valued at $423 million at the first extension.) Others in this round include Addition, strategic backer CrowdStrike Falcon Fund and SVCI — all existing investors in Tines.<\/p>\n It has now raised some $146.2 million in total.<\/p>\n As we have previously described, the gap in the market that Tines is targeting comes from Hinchy’s and his co-founder Thomas Kinsella’s own direct experience. Hinchy is a classic technical founder. He and Kinsella (now chief customer officer) both spent around a decade<\/a> working in leading roles in cybersecurity for companies like DocuSign, eBay and Deloitte, where they found major gaps in the market for tools to help better manage the large number of services they used to track data and network activity for his companies.<\/p><\/div>\n All of that was compounded by not just the explosion of new cybersecurity techniques but also hacking risks that grew out of the rise of cloud computing and related innovations. Hinchy estimated to me that the average security team manages some 77 different products, with “some in the hundreds.”<\/p>\n “By 2017 we desperately needed a workflow automation tool, and really nothing out there came close to what we wanted, so we decided to build what we wish we had,” Hinchy said. Tines covers what he describes as “mission critical workflows” which in security include tools to monitor and track security alerts, compliance alerts and increasingly areas that are adjacent to where security teams need to have visibility such as employee onboarding and offboarding, patch management in IT and more.<\/p>\n “We are the plumbing between these systems,” he said.<\/p>\n Although Hinchy is technical himself, he saw that another gap was that a lot of the need for monitoring was best served by not having to be a technical solution in itself. The whole of Tines is conceptualized in a drag-and-drop, no-code framework, building blocks that aim to reduce the amount of time it takes to create and manage workflows on the platform.<\/p>\n That is where the opportunity lies also for Tines’ investors. Although there are definite and very large competitors in the market including Splunk (and now Cisco by virtue of having acquired Splunk this year<\/a>), Palo Alto Networks, ServiceNow and Microsoft, Tines and its backers and its users would contend that their focused and more context-aware approach are more useful and effective.<\/p>\n “Customer satisfaction is typically abysmally low in security,” Jake Storm, the partner at Felicis who led the deal, said in an interview. He said that he was surprised, when making due diligence calls when weighing up this latest deal, how different that was for Tines. “That’s just unheard of. It was just glaringly obvious that Tines was years ahead of its competitors back in 2022 and we just feel that gap has continued to widen.”<\/p>\n Luca Bocchio at Accel sees workflow as the key missing link, one that gives Tines a lot of potential to position itself further as a platform, not a service.<\/p>\n “If anything over the last few years, the growth of security needs has led to more security products and tools and that boils down to more workflow needs. That means Tines is becoming more relevant. With security being part of broader IT and business operations, it naturally needs to engage with the rest of the organization.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Automation continues to be a major theme in the enterprise — underscored not least by the rise of AI as a tool to help fix some of the more routine, resource-intensive and fragmented aspects of how security and other IT functions operate. To capitalize on that trend, one of the bigger startups in the space, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13119829,"featured_media":2530790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"aae9a109-d4ea-366a-801d-05489a68ef82","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:09:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"22dd1b3c-b5ad-4502-b08d-541164b3b5b5","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T12:11:09Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AIt0bPLWtRQKwjVQRZLO1tQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[449557044,21587494],"tags":[2395735,576788350,576708173,576596111],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nTines taps $50M to expand its workflow automation beyond security teams | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
It has now raised some $146.2 million in total.<\/p>\n
As we have previously described, the gap in the market that Tines is targeting comes from Hinchy’s and his co-founder Thomas Kinsella’s own direct experience. Hinchy is a classic technical founder. He and Kinsella (now chief customer officer) both spent around a decade<\/a> working in leading roles in cybersecurity for companies like DocuSign, eBay and Deloitte, where they found major gaps in the market for tools to help better manage the large number of services they used to track data and network activity for his companies.<\/p><\/div>\n All of that was compounded by not just the explosion of new cybersecurity techniques but also hacking risks that grew out of the rise of cloud computing and related innovations. Hinchy estimated to me that the average security team manages some 77 different products, with “some in the hundreds.”<\/p>\n “By 2017 we desperately needed a workflow automation tool, and really nothing out there came close to what we wanted, so we decided to build what we wish we had,” Hinchy said. Tines covers what he describes as “mission critical workflows” which in security include tools to monitor and track security alerts, compliance alerts and increasingly areas that are adjacent to where security teams need to have visibility such as employee onboarding and offboarding, patch management in IT and more.<\/p>\n “We are the plumbing between these systems,” he said.<\/p>\n Although Hinchy is technical himself, he saw that another gap was that a lot of the need for monitoring was best served by not having to be a technical solution in itself. The whole of Tines is conceptualized in a drag-and-drop, no-code framework, building blocks that aim to reduce the amount of time it takes to create and manage workflows on the platform.<\/p>\n That is where the opportunity lies also for Tines’ investors. Although there are definite and very large competitors in the market including Splunk (and now Cisco by virtue of having acquired Splunk this year<\/a>), Palo Alto Networks, ServiceNow and Microsoft, Tines and its backers and its users would contend that their focused and more context-aware approach are more useful and effective.<\/p>\n “Customer satisfaction is typically abysmally low in security,” Jake Storm, the partner at Felicis who led the deal, said in an interview. He said that he was surprised, when making due diligence calls when weighing up this latest deal, how different that was for Tines. “That’s just unheard of. It was just glaringly obvious that Tines was years ahead of its competitors back in 2022 and we just feel that gap has continued to widen.”<\/p>\n Luca Bocchio at Accel sees workflow as the key missing link, one that gives Tines a lot of potential to position itself further as a platform, not a service.<\/p>\n “If anything over the last few years, the growth of security needs has led to more security products and tools and that boils down to more workflow needs. That means Tines is becoming more relevant. With security being part of broader IT and business operations, it naturally needs to engage with the rest of the organization.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Automation continues to be a major theme in the enterprise — underscored not least by the rise of AI as a tool to help fix some of the more routine, resource-intensive and fragmented aspects of how security and other IT functions operate. To capitalize on that trend, one of the bigger startups in the space, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13119829,"featured_media":2530790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"aae9a109-d4ea-366a-801d-05489a68ef82","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:09:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"22dd1b3c-b5ad-4502-b08d-541164b3b5b5","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T12:11:09Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AIt0bPLWtRQKwjVQRZLO1tQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[449557044,21587494],"tags":[2395735,576788350,576708173,576596111],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nTines taps $50M to expand its workflow automation beyond security teams | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
All of that was compounded by not just the explosion of new cybersecurity techniques but also hacking risks that grew out of the rise of cloud computing and related innovations. Hinchy estimated to me that the average security team manages some 77 different products, with “some in the hundreds.”<\/p>\n
“By 2017 we desperately needed a workflow automation tool, and really nothing out there came close to what we wanted, so we decided to build what we wish we had,” Hinchy said. Tines covers what he describes as “mission critical workflows” which in security include tools to monitor and track security alerts, compliance alerts and increasingly areas that are adjacent to where security teams need to have visibility such as employee onboarding and offboarding, patch management in IT and more.<\/p>\n
“We are the plumbing between these systems,” he said.<\/p>\n
Although Hinchy is technical himself, he saw that another gap was that a lot of the need for monitoring was best served by not having to be a technical solution in itself. The whole of Tines is conceptualized in a drag-and-drop, no-code framework, building blocks that aim to reduce the amount of time it takes to create and manage workflows on the platform.<\/p>\n
That is where the opportunity lies also for Tines’ investors. Although there are definite and very large competitors in the market including Splunk (and now Cisco by virtue of having acquired Splunk this year<\/a>), Palo Alto Networks, ServiceNow and Microsoft, Tines and its backers and its users would contend that their focused and more context-aware approach are more useful and effective.<\/p>\n “Customer satisfaction is typically abysmally low in security,” Jake Storm, the partner at Felicis who led the deal, said in an interview. He said that he was surprised, when making due diligence calls when weighing up this latest deal, how different that was for Tines. “That’s just unheard of. It was just glaringly obvious that Tines was years ahead of its competitors back in 2022 and we just feel that gap has continued to widen.”<\/p>\n Luca Bocchio at Accel sees workflow as the key missing link, one that gives Tines a lot of potential to position itself further as a platform, not a service.<\/p>\n “If anything over the last few years, the growth of security needs has led to more security products and tools and that boils down to more workflow needs. That means Tines is becoming more relevant. With security being part of broader IT and business operations, it naturally needs to engage with the rest of the organization.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Automation continues to be a major theme in the enterprise — underscored not least by the rise of AI as a tool to help fix some of the more routine, resource-intensive and fragmented aspects of how security and other IT functions operate. To capitalize on that trend, one of the bigger startups in the space, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13119829,"featured_media":2530790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"aae9a109-d4ea-366a-801d-05489a68ef82","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:09:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"22dd1b3c-b5ad-4502-b08d-541164b3b5b5","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T12:11:09Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AIt0bPLWtRQKwjVQRZLO1tQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[449557044,21587494],"tags":[2395735,576788350,576708173,576596111],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nTines taps $50M to expand its workflow automation beyond security teams | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
“Customer satisfaction is typically abysmally low in security,” Jake Storm, the partner at Felicis who led the deal, said in an interview. He said that he was surprised, when making due diligence calls when weighing up this latest deal, how different that was for Tines. “That’s just unheard of. It was just glaringly obvious that Tines was years ahead of its competitors back in 2022 and we just feel that gap has continued to widen.”<\/p>\n
Luca Bocchio at Accel sees workflow as the key missing link, one that gives Tines a lot of potential to position itself further as a platform, not a service.<\/p>\n
“If anything over the last few years, the growth of security needs has led to more security products and tools and that boils down to more workflow needs. That means Tines is becoming more relevant. With security being part of broader IT and business operations, it naturally needs to engage with the rest of the organization.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Automation continues to be a major theme in the enterprise — underscored not least by the rise of AI as a tool to help fix some of the more routine, resource-intensive and fragmented aspects of how security and other IT functions operate. To capitalize on that trend, one of the bigger startups in the space, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13119829,"featured_media":2530790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"aae9a109-d4ea-366a-801d-05489a68ef82","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:09:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"22dd1b3c-b5ad-4502-b08d-541164b3b5b5","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T12:11:09Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AIt0bPLWtRQKwjVQRZLO1tQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[449557044,21587494],"tags":[2395735,576788350,576708173,576596111],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nTines taps $50M to expand its workflow automation beyond security teams | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Ingrid is a writer and editor for TechCrunch, joining February 2012, based out of London.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Before TechCrunch, Ingrid worked at paidContent.org, where she was a staff writer, and has in the past also written freelance regularly for other publications such as the Financial Times. Ingrid covers mobile, digital media, advertising and the spaces where these intersect.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
When it comes to work, she feels most comfortable speaking in English but can also speak Russian, Spanish and French (in descending order of competence).<\/p>","cbAvatar":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/tbebbexwnizrc5qurxt4.jpg.jpg","twitter":"ingridlunden","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/13119829"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users"}]}}],"author":[{"id":13119829,"name":"Ingrid Lunden","url":"","description":"","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/author\/ingrid-lunden\/","slug":"ingrid-lunden","avatar_urls":{"24":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6648ec93043f0f368091adece63c6d52?s=24&d=identicon&r=g","48":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6648ec93043f0f368091adece63c6d52?s=48&d=identicon&r=g","96":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6648ec93043f0f368091adece63c6d52?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"},"yoast_head":"\nIngrid Lunden, Author at TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Ingrid is a writer and editor for TechCrunch, joining February 2012, based out of London.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Before TechCrunch, Ingrid worked at paidContent.org, where she was a staff writer, and has in the past also written freelance regularly for other publications such as the Financial Times. Ingrid covers mobile, digital media, advertising and the spaces where these intersect.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
When it comes to work, she feels most comfortable speaking in English but can also speak Russian, Spanish and French (in descending order of competence).<\/p>","cbAvatar":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/tbebbexwnizrc5qurxt4.jpg.jpg","twitter":"ingridlunden","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/13119829"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users"}]}}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"id":2530790,"date":"2023-04-19T05:33:34","slug":"optimisation-of-business-and-industrial-process-workflow-and-automation-development-of-sofware-for-automatization-managment-gears-on-virtual-screen","type":"attachment","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2023\/04\/19\/salesforce-is-working-on-a-pair-of-new-generative-ai-driven-workflow-tools\/optimisation-of-business-and-industrial-process-workflow-and-automation-development-of-sofware-for-automatization-managment-gears-on-virtual-screen\/","title":{"rendered":"Optimisation of business and industrial process workflow and automation. Development of sofware for automatization managment. Gears on virtual screen."},"author":521068,"featured_media":0,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"license":{"source_key":"getty images","person":"Traitov"},"authors":[521068],"caption":{"rendered":"
Optimisation of business and industrial process workflow and automation. Development of sofware for automatization managment. Gears on virtual screen.<\/p>\n"},"alt_text":"Automated intelligent workflow concept with three gears connected to various tasks.","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","media_details":{"width":3267,"height":2178,"file":"2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg","filesize":7855118,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?resize=150,100","width":150,"height":100,"filesize":7855118,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?w=150"},"medium":{"file":"GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?resize=300,200","width":300,"height":200,"filesize":7855118,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?w=300"},"medium_large":{"file":"GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?resize=768,512","width":768,"height":512,"filesize":7855118,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?w=1024"},"large":{"file":"GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?resize=680,453","width":680,"height":453,"filesize":7855118,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?w=680"},"1536x1536":{"file":"GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?resize=1536,1024","width":1536,"height":1024,"filesize":7855118,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?w=1536"},"2048x2048":{"file":"GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?resize=2048,1365","width":2048,"height":1365,"filesize":7855118,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?w=2048"},"tc-social-image":{"file":"GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?resize=1200,800","width":1200,"height":800,"filesize":7855118,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?w=1200"},"guest-author-32":{"file":"GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?resize=32,32","width":32,"height":32,"filesize":7855118,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?w=32&h=32&crop=1"},"guest-author-50":{"file":"GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?resize=50,50","width":50,"height":50,"filesize":7855118,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?w=50&h=50&crop=1"},"guest-author-64":{"file":"GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?resize=64,64","width":64,"height":64,"filesize":7855118,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?w=64&h=64&crop=1"},"guest-author-96":{"file":"GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?resize=96,96","width":96,"height":96,"filesize":7855118,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?w=96&h=96&crop=1"},"guest-author-128":{"file":"GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?resize=128,128","width":128,"height":128,"filesize":7855118,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?w=128&h=128&crop=1"},"concierge-thumb":{"file":"GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?resize=50,33","width":50,"height":33,"filesize":7855118,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg?w=50"},"full":{"file":"GettyImages-1197780081.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"4","credit":"Getty Images\/iStockphoto","camera":"Canon EOS 40D","caption":"Optimisation of business and industrial process workflow and automation. Development of sofware for automatization managment. Gears on virtual screen.","created_timestamp":"1510330158","copyright":"","focal_length":"50","iso":"1600","shutter_speed":"0.016666666666667","title":"Optimisation of business and industrial process workflow and automation. Development of sofware for automatization managment. Gears on virtual screen.","orientation":"1","keywords":[]}},"source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GettyImages-1197780081.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2530790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/attachment"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2530790"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/521068"}]}}],"wp:term":[[{"id":449557044,"description":"Read the latest news on enterprise, from new products to large SaaS providers like Salesforce, Adobe, ServiceNow and Atlassian to funding for small SaaS companies and new products that help startups build their own SaaS.","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/category\/enterprise\/","name":"Enterprise","slug":"enterprise","taxonomy":"category","parent":0,"yoast_head":"\nEnterprise News | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n
All-around, highly generalizable generative AI models were the name of the game once, and they arguably still are. But increasingly, as cloud vendors large and small join the generative AI fray, we’re seeing a new crop of models focused on the deepest-pocketed potential customers: the enterprise.<\/p>\n
Case in point: Snowflake, the cloud computing company, today unveiled Arctic LLM, a generative AI model that’s described as “enterprise-grade.” Available under an Apache 2.0 license, Arctic LLM is optimized for “enterprise workloads,” including generating database code, Snowflake says, and is free for research and commercial use.<\/p>\n
“I think this is going to be the foundation that’s going to let us — Snowflake — and our customers build enterprise-grade products and actually begin to realize the promise and value of AI,” CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy said in press briefing. “<\/span>You should think of this very much as our first, but big, step in the world of generative AI, with lots more to come.”<\/p>\nAn enterprise model<\/h2>\n My colleague Devin Coldewey recently wrote about how there’s no end in sight to the onslaught of generative AI models. I recommend you read his piece<\/a>, but the gist is: Models are an easy way for vendors to drum up excitement for their R&D and they also serve as a funnel to their product ecosystems (e.g., model hosting, fine-tuning and so on).<\/p>\n Arctic LLM is no different. Snowflake’s flagship model in a family of generative AI models called Arctic<\/a>, Arctic LLM \u2014 which took around three months, 1,000 GPUs and $2 million to train \u2014 arrives on the heels of Databricks’ DBRX<\/a>, a generative AI model also marketed as optimized for the enterprise space.<\/p>\n Snowflake draws a direct comparison between Arctic LLM and DBRX in its press materials, saying Arctic LLM outperforms DBRX on the two tasks of coding (Snowflake didn’t specify which programming languages) and SQL<\/a> generation. The company said Arctic LLM is also better at those tasks than\u00a0Meta’s Llama 2 70B (but not the more recent Llama 3 70B<\/a>) and Mistral’s Mixtral-8x7B.<\/span><\/p>\n Snowflake also claims that Arctic LLM achieves “leading performance” on a popular general language understanding benchmark, MMLU. <\/span>I’ll note, though, that while MMLU purports to evaluate generative models’ ability to reason through logic problems, it includes tests that can be solved through rote memorization<\/a>, so take that bullet point with a grain of salt.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n “Arctic LLM addresses specific needs within the enterprise sector,” Baris Gultekin, head of AI at Snowflake, told TechCrunch in an interview, “diverging from generic AI applications like composing poetry to focus on enterprise-oriented challenges, such as developing SQL co-pilots and high-quality chatbots.”<\/p>\n Arctic LLM, like DBRX and Google’s top-performing generative model of the moment, Gemini 1.5 Pro, is a mixture of experts (MoE) architecture. MoE architectures basically break down data processing tasks into subtasks and then delegate them to smaller, specialized “expert” models. So, while Arctic LLM contains 480 billion parameters, it only activates 17 billion at a time \u2014 enough to drive the 128 separate expert models. (Parameters essentially define the skill of an AI model on a problem, like analyzing and generating text.)<\/p>\n Snowflake claims that this efficient design enabled it to train Arctic LLM on open public web data sets (including RefinedWeb<\/a>, C4<\/a>, RedPajama<\/a> and StarCoder<\/a>) at “roughly one-eighth the cost of similar models.”<\/p>\nRunning everywhere<\/h2>\n Snowflake is providing resources like coding templates and a list of training sources alongside Arctic LLM to guide users through the process of getting the model up and running and fine-tuning it for particular use cases. But, recognizing that those are likely to be costly and complex undertakings for most developers (fine-tuning or running Arctic LLM requires around eight GPUs), Snowflake’s also pledging to make Arctic LLM available across a range of hosts, including Hugging Face, Microsoft Azure, Together AI’s model-hosting service, and enterprise generative AI platform Lamini.<\/p>\n Here’s the rub, though: Arctic LLM will be available first<\/em> on Cortex, Snowflake’s platform for building AI- and machine learning-powered apps and services. The company’s unsurprisingly pitching it as the preferred way to run Arctic LLM with “security,” “governance” and scalability.<\/p>\n “<\/span>Our dream here is, within a year, to have an API that our customers can use so that business users can directly talk to data,” Ramaswamy said. “It would’ve<\/span> been easy for us to say, ‘Oh, we’ll just wait for some open source model and we’ll use it. Instead, we’re making a foundational investment because we think [it’s] going to unlock more value for our customers.”<\/span><\/p>\n So I’m left wondering: Who’s Arctic LLM really for besides Snowflake customers?<\/p>\n In a landscape full of “open<\/a>” generative models that can be fine-tuned for practically any purpose, Arctic LLM doesn’t stand out in any obvious way. Its architecture might bring efficiency gains over some of the other options out there. But I’m not convinced that they’ll be dramatic enough to sway enterprises away from the countless other well-known and -supported, business-friendly generative models (e.g. GPT-4<\/a>).<\/p>\n There’s also a point in Arctic LLM’s disfavor to consider: its relatively small context.<\/p>\n In generative AI, context window refers to input data (e.g. text) that a model considers before generating output (e.g. more text). Models with small context windows are prone to forgetting the content of even very recent conversations, while models with larger contexts typically avoid this pitfall.<\/p>\n Arctic LLM’s context is between ~8,000 and ~24,000 words, dependent on the fine-tuning method — far below that of models like Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus and Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro.<\/p>\n Snowflake doesn’t mention it in the marketing, but Arctic LLM almost certainly suffers from the same limitations and shortcomings as other generative AI models \u2014 namely, hallucinations<\/a> (i.e. confidently answering requests incorrectly). That’s because Arctic LLM, along with every other generative AI model in existence, is a statistical probability machine — one that, again, has a small context window. It guesses based on vast amounts of examples which data makes the most “sense” to place where (e.g. the word “go” before “the market” in the sentence “I go to the market”). It’ll inevitably guess wrong \u2014 and that’s a “hallucination.”<\/p>\n As Devin writes in his piece, until the next major technical breakthrough, incremental improvements are all we have to look forward to in the generative AI domain. That won’t stop vendors like Snowflake from championing them as great achievements, though, and marketing them for all they’re worth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All-around, highly generalizable generative AI models were the name of the game once, and they arguably still are. But increasingly, as cloud vendors large and small join the generative AI fray, we’re seeing a new crop of models focused on the deepest-pocketed potential customers: the enterprise. Case in point: Snowflake, the cloud computing company, today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2622892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"a07274c3-e23a-3cc2-9c23-f35153d02a9e","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_id":"e6a22266-04d3-473b-9f5b-c5b5b7ae9761","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A5qIiZgTTRzufW8W1t66XYQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[14067,15328,576717904,924097],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nSnowflake releases a flagship generative AI model of its own | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
My colleague Devin Coldewey recently wrote about how there’s no end in sight to the onslaught of generative AI models. I recommend you read his piece<\/a>, but the gist is: Models are an easy way for vendors to drum up excitement for their R&D and they also serve as a funnel to their product ecosystems (e.g., model hosting, fine-tuning and so on).<\/p>\n Arctic LLM is no different. Snowflake’s flagship model in a family of generative AI models called Arctic<\/a>, Arctic LLM \u2014 which took around three months, 1,000 GPUs and $2 million to train \u2014 arrives on the heels of Databricks’ DBRX<\/a>, a generative AI model also marketed as optimized for the enterprise space.<\/p>\n Snowflake draws a direct comparison between Arctic LLM and DBRX in its press materials, saying Arctic LLM outperforms DBRX on the two tasks of coding (Snowflake didn’t specify which programming languages) and SQL<\/a> generation. The company said Arctic LLM is also better at those tasks than\u00a0Meta’s Llama 2 70B (but not the more recent Llama 3 70B<\/a>) and Mistral’s Mixtral-8x7B.<\/span><\/p>\n Snowflake also claims that Arctic LLM achieves “leading performance” on a popular general language understanding benchmark, MMLU. <\/span>I’ll note, though, that while MMLU purports to evaluate generative models’ ability to reason through logic problems, it includes tests that can be solved through rote memorization<\/a>, so take that bullet point with a grain of salt.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n “Arctic LLM addresses specific needs within the enterprise sector,” Baris Gultekin, head of AI at Snowflake, told TechCrunch in an interview, “diverging from generic AI applications like composing poetry to focus on enterprise-oriented challenges, such as developing SQL co-pilots and high-quality chatbots.”<\/p>\n Arctic LLM, like DBRX and Google’s top-performing generative model of the moment, Gemini 1.5 Pro, is a mixture of experts (MoE) architecture. MoE architectures basically break down data processing tasks into subtasks and then delegate them to smaller, specialized “expert” models. So, while Arctic LLM contains 480 billion parameters, it only activates 17 billion at a time \u2014 enough to drive the 128 separate expert models. (Parameters essentially define the skill of an AI model on a problem, like analyzing and generating text.)<\/p>\n Snowflake claims that this efficient design enabled it to train Arctic LLM on open public web data sets (including RefinedWeb<\/a>, C4<\/a>, RedPajama<\/a> and StarCoder<\/a>) at “roughly one-eighth the cost of similar models.”<\/p>\nRunning everywhere<\/h2>\n Snowflake is providing resources like coding templates and a list of training sources alongside Arctic LLM to guide users through the process of getting the model up and running and fine-tuning it for particular use cases. But, recognizing that those are likely to be costly and complex undertakings for most developers (fine-tuning or running Arctic LLM requires around eight GPUs), Snowflake’s also pledging to make Arctic LLM available across a range of hosts, including Hugging Face, Microsoft Azure, Together AI’s model-hosting service, and enterprise generative AI platform Lamini.<\/p>\n Here’s the rub, though: Arctic LLM will be available first<\/em> on Cortex, Snowflake’s platform for building AI- and machine learning-powered apps and services. The company’s unsurprisingly pitching it as the preferred way to run Arctic LLM with “security,” “governance” and scalability.<\/p>\n “<\/span>Our dream here is, within a year, to have an API that our customers can use so that business users can directly talk to data,” Ramaswamy said. “It would’ve<\/span> been easy for us to say, ‘Oh, we’ll just wait for some open source model and we’ll use it. Instead, we’re making a foundational investment because we think [it’s] going to unlock more value for our customers.”<\/span><\/p>\n So I’m left wondering: Who’s Arctic LLM really for besides Snowflake customers?<\/p>\n In a landscape full of “open<\/a>” generative models that can be fine-tuned for practically any purpose, Arctic LLM doesn’t stand out in any obvious way. Its architecture might bring efficiency gains over some of the other options out there. But I’m not convinced that they’ll be dramatic enough to sway enterprises away from the countless other well-known and -supported, business-friendly generative models (e.g. GPT-4<\/a>).<\/p>\n There’s also a point in Arctic LLM’s disfavor to consider: its relatively small context.<\/p>\n In generative AI, context window refers to input data (e.g. text) that a model considers before generating output (e.g. more text). Models with small context windows are prone to forgetting the content of even very recent conversations, while models with larger contexts typically avoid this pitfall.<\/p>\n Arctic LLM’s context is between ~8,000 and ~24,000 words, dependent on the fine-tuning method — far below that of models like Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus and Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro.<\/p>\n Snowflake doesn’t mention it in the marketing, but Arctic LLM almost certainly suffers from the same limitations and shortcomings as other generative AI models \u2014 namely, hallucinations<\/a> (i.e. confidently answering requests incorrectly). That’s because Arctic LLM, along with every other generative AI model in existence, is a statistical probability machine — one that, again, has a small context window. It guesses based on vast amounts of examples which data makes the most “sense” to place where (e.g. the word “go” before “the market” in the sentence “I go to the market”). It’ll inevitably guess wrong \u2014 and that’s a “hallucination.”<\/p>\n As Devin writes in his piece, until the next major technical breakthrough, incremental improvements are all we have to look forward to in the generative AI domain. That won’t stop vendors like Snowflake from championing them as great achievements, though, and marketing them for all they’re worth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All-around, highly generalizable generative AI models were the name of the game once, and they arguably still are. But increasingly, as cloud vendors large and small join the generative AI fray, we’re seeing a new crop of models focused on the deepest-pocketed potential customers: the enterprise. Case in point: Snowflake, the cloud computing company, today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2622892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"a07274c3-e23a-3cc2-9c23-f35153d02a9e","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_id":"e6a22266-04d3-473b-9f5b-c5b5b7ae9761","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A5qIiZgTTRzufW8W1t66XYQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[14067,15328,576717904,924097],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nSnowflake releases a flagship generative AI model of its own | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Arctic LLM is no different. Snowflake’s flagship model in a family of generative AI models called Arctic<\/a>, Arctic LLM \u2014 which took around three months, 1,000 GPUs and $2 million to train \u2014 arrives on the heels of Databricks’ DBRX<\/a>, a generative AI model also marketed as optimized for the enterprise space.<\/p>\n Snowflake draws a direct comparison between Arctic LLM and DBRX in its press materials, saying Arctic LLM outperforms DBRX on the two tasks of coding (Snowflake didn’t specify which programming languages) and SQL<\/a> generation. The company said Arctic LLM is also better at those tasks than\u00a0Meta’s Llama 2 70B (but not the more recent Llama 3 70B<\/a>) and Mistral’s Mixtral-8x7B.<\/span><\/p>\n Snowflake also claims that Arctic LLM achieves “leading performance” on a popular general language understanding benchmark, MMLU. <\/span>I’ll note, though, that while MMLU purports to evaluate generative models’ ability to reason through logic problems, it includes tests that can be solved through rote memorization<\/a>, so take that bullet point with a grain of salt.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n “Arctic LLM addresses specific needs within the enterprise sector,” Baris Gultekin, head of AI at Snowflake, told TechCrunch in an interview, “diverging from generic AI applications like composing poetry to focus on enterprise-oriented challenges, such as developing SQL co-pilots and high-quality chatbots.”<\/p>\n Arctic LLM, like DBRX and Google’s top-performing generative model of the moment, Gemini 1.5 Pro, is a mixture of experts (MoE) architecture. MoE architectures basically break down data processing tasks into subtasks and then delegate them to smaller, specialized “expert” models. So, while Arctic LLM contains 480 billion parameters, it only activates 17 billion at a time \u2014 enough to drive the 128 separate expert models. (Parameters essentially define the skill of an AI model on a problem, like analyzing and generating text.)<\/p>\n Snowflake claims that this efficient design enabled it to train Arctic LLM on open public web data sets (including RefinedWeb<\/a>, C4<\/a>, RedPajama<\/a> and StarCoder<\/a>) at “roughly one-eighth the cost of similar models.”<\/p>\nRunning everywhere<\/h2>\n Snowflake is providing resources like coding templates and a list of training sources alongside Arctic LLM to guide users through the process of getting the model up and running and fine-tuning it for particular use cases. But, recognizing that those are likely to be costly and complex undertakings for most developers (fine-tuning or running Arctic LLM requires around eight GPUs), Snowflake’s also pledging to make Arctic LLM available across a range of hosts, including Hugging Face, Microsoft Azure, Together AI’s model-hosting service, and enterprise generative AI platform Lamini.<\/p>\n Here’s the rub, though: Arctic LLM will be available first<\/em> on Cortex, Snowflake’s platform for building AI- and machine learning-powered apps and services. The company’s unsurprisingly pitching it as the preferred way to run Arctic LLM with “security,” “governance” and scalability.<\/p>\n “<\/span>Our dream here is, within a year, to have an API that our customers can use so that business users can directly talk to data,” Ramaswamy said. “It would’ve<\/span> been easy for us to say, ‘Oh, we’ll just wait for some open source model and we’ll use it. Instead, we’re making a foundational investment because we think [it’s] going to unlock more value for our customers.”<\/span><\/p>\n So I’m left wondering: Who’s Arctic LLM really for besides Snowflake customers?<\/p>\n In a landscape full of “open<\/a>” generative models that can be fine-tuned for practically any purpose, Arctic LLM doesn’t stand out in any obvious way. Its architecture might bring efficiency gains over some of the other options out there. But I’m not convinced that they’ll be dramatic enough to sway enterprises away from the countless other well-known and -supported, business-friendly generative models (e.g. GPT-4<\/a>).<\/p>\n There’s also a point in Arctic LLM’s disfavor to consider: its relatively small context.<\/p>\n In generative AI, context window refers to input data (e.g. text) that a model considers before generating output (e.g. more text). Models with small context windows are prone to forgetting the content of even very recent conversations, while models with larger contexts typically avoid this pitfall.<\/p>\n Arctic LLM’s context is between ~8,000 and ~24,000 words, dependent on the fine-tuning method — far below that of models like Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus and Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro.<\/p>\n Snowflake doesn’t mention it in the marketing, but Arctic LLM almost certainly suffers from the same limitations and shortcomings as other generative AI models \u2014 namely, hallucinations<\/a> (i.e. confidently answering requests incorrectly). That’s because Arctic LLM, along with every other generative AI model in existence, is a statistical probability machine — one that, again, has a small context window. It guesses based on vast amounts of examples which data makes the most “sense” to place where (e.g. the word “go” before “the market” in the sentence “I go to the market”). It’ll inevitably guess wrong \u2014 and that’s a “hallucination.”<\/p>\n As Devin writes in his piece, until the next major technical breakthrough, incremental improvements are all we have to look forward to in the generative AI domain. That won’t stop vendors like Snowflake from championing them as great achievements, though, and marketing them for all they’re worth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All-around, highly generalizable generative AI models were the name of the game once, and they arguably still are. But increasingly, as cloud vendors large and small join the generative AI fray, we’re seeing a new crop of models focused on the deepest-pocketed potential customers: the enterprise. Case in point: Snowflake, the cloud computing company, today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2622892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"a07274c3-e23a-3cc2-9c23-f35153d02a9e","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_id":"e6a22266-04d3-473b-9f5b-c5b5b7ae9761","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A5qIiZgTTRzufW8W1t66XYQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[14067,15328,576717904,924097],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nSnowflake releases a flagship generative AI model of its own | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Snowflake draws a direct comparison between Arctic LLM and DBRX in its press materials, saying Arctic LLM outperforms DBRX on the two tasks of coding (Snowflake didn’t specify which programming languages) and SQL<\/a> generation. The company said Arctic LLM is also better at those tasks than\u00a0Meta’s Llama 2 70B (but not the more recent Llama 3 70B<\/a>) and Mistral’s Mixtral-8x7B.<\/span><\/p>\n Snowflake also claims that Arctic LLM achieves “leading performance” on a popular general language understanding benchmark, MMLU. <\/span>I’ll note, though, that while MMLU purports to evaluate generative models’ ability to reason through logic problems, it includes tests that can be solved through rote memorization<\/a>, so take that bullet point with a grain of salt.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n “Arctic LLM addresses specific needs within the enterprise sector,” Baris Gultekin, head of AI at Snowflake, told TechCrunch in an interview, “diverging from generic AI applications like composing poetry to focus on enterprise-oriented challenges, such as developing SQL co-pilots and high-quality chatbots.”<\/p>\n Arctic LLM, like DBRX and Google’s top-performing generative model of the moment, Gemini 1.5 Pro, is a mixture of experts (MoE) architecture. MoE architectures basically break down data processing tasks into subtasks and then delegate them to smaller, specialized “expert” models. So, while Arctic LLM contains 480 billion parameters, it only activates 17 billion at a time \u2014 enough to drive the 128 separate expert models. (Parameters essentially define the skill of an AI model on a problem, like analyzing and generating text.)<\/p>\n Snowflake claims that this efficient design enabled it to train Arctic LLM on open public web data sets (including RefinedWeb<\/a>, C4<\/a>, RedPajama<\/a> and StarCoder<\/a>) at “roughly one-eighth the cost of similar models.”<\/p>\nRunning everywhere<\/h2>\n Snowflake is providing resources like coding templates and a list of training sources alongside Arctic LLM to guide users through the process of getting the model up and running and fine-tuning it for particular use cases. But, recognizing that those are likely to be costly and complex undertakings for most developers (fine-tuning or running Arctic LLM requires around eight GPUs), Snowflake’s also pledging to make Arctic LLM available across a range of hosts, including Hugging Face, Microsoft Azure, Together AI’s model-hosting service, and enterprise generative AI platform Lamini.<\/p>\n Here’s the rub, though: Arctic LLM will be available first<\/em> on Cortex, Snowflake’s platform for building AI- and machine learning-powered apps and services. The company’s unsurprisingly pitching it as the preferred way to run Arctic LLM with “security,” “governance” and scalability.<\/p>\n “<\/span>Our dream here is, within a year, to have an API that our customers can use so that business users can directly talk to data,” Ramaswamy said. “It would’ve<\/span> been easy for us to say, ‘Oh, we’ll just wait for some open source model and we’ll use it. Instead, we’re making a foundational investment because we think [it’s] going to unlock more value for our customers.”<\/span><\/p>\n So I’m left wondering: Who’s Arctic LLM really for besides Snowflake customers?<\/p>\n In a landscape full of “open<\/a>” generative models that can be fine-tuned for practically any purpose, Arctic LLM doesn’t stand out in any obvious way. Its architecture might bring efficiency gains over some of the other options out there. But I’m not convinced that they’ll be dramatic enough to sway enterprises away from the countless other well-known and -supported, business-friendly generative models (e.g. GPT-4<\/a>).<\/p>\n There’s also a point in Arctic LLM’s disfavor to consider: its relatively small context.<\/p>\n In generative AI, context window refers to input data (e.g. text) that a model considers before generating output (e.g. more text). Models with small context windows are prone to forgetting the content of even very recent conversations, while models with larger contexts typically avoid this pitfall.<\/p>\n Arctic LLM’s context is between ~8,000 and ~24,000 words, dependent on the fine-tuning method — far below that of models like Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus and Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro.<\/p>\n Snowflake doesn’t mention it in the marketing, but Arctic LLM almost certainly suffers from the same limitations and shortcomings as other generative AI models \u2014 namely, hallucinations<\/a> (i.e. confidently answering requests incorrectly). That’s because Arctic LLM, along with every other generative AI model in existence, is a statistical probability machine — one that, again, has a small context window. It guesses based on vast amounts of examples which data makes the most “sense” to place where (e.g. the word “go” before “the market” in the sentence “I go to the market”). It’ll inevitably guess wrong \u2014 and that’s a “hallucination.”<\/p>\n As Devin writes in his piece, until the next major technical breakthrough, incremental improvements are all we have to look forward to in the generative AI domain. That won’t stop vendors like Snowflake from championing them as great achievements, though, and marketing them for all they’re worth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All-around, highly generalizable generative AI models were the name of the game once, and they arguably still are. But increasingly, as cloud vendors large and small join the generative AI fray, we’re seeing a new crop of models focused on the deepest-pocketed potential customers: the enterprise. Case in point: Snowflake, the cloud computing company, today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2622892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"a07274c3-e23a-3cc2-9c23-f35153d02a9e","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_id":"e6a22266-04d3-473b-9f5b-c5b5b7ae9761","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A5qIiZgTTRzufW8W1t66XYQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[14067,15328,576717904,924097],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nSnowflake releases a flagship generative AI model of its own | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Snowflake also claims that Arctic LLM achieves “leading performance” on a popular general language understanding benchmark, MMLU. <\/span>I’ll note, though, that while MMLU purports to evaluate generative models’ ability to reason through logic problems, it includes tests that can be solved through rote memorization<\/a>, so take that bullet point with a grain of salt.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n “Arctic LLM addresses specific needs within the enterprise sector,” Baris Gultekin, head of AI at Snowflake, told TechCrunch in an interview, “diverging from generic AI applications like composing poetry to focus on enterprise-oriented challenges, such as developing SQL co-pilots and high-quality chatbots.”<\/p>\n Arctic LLM, like DBRX and Google’s top-performing generative model of the moment, Gemini 1.5 Pro, is a mixture of experts (MoE) architecture. MoE architectures basically break down data processing tasks into subtasks and then delegate them to smaller, specialized “expert” models. So, while Arctic LLM contains 480 billion parameters, it only activates 17 billion at a time \u2014 enough to drive the 128 separate expert models. (Parameters essentially define the skill of an AI model on a problem, like analyzing and generating text.)<\/p>\n Snowflake claims that this efficient design enabled it to train Arctic LLM on open public web data sets (including RefinedWeb<\/a>, C4<\/a>, RedPajama<\/a> and StarCoder<\/a>) at “roughly one-eighth the cost of similar models.”<\/p>\nRunning everywhere<\/h2>\n Snowflake is providing resources like coding templates and a list of training sources alongside Arctic LLM to guide users through the process of getting the model up and running and fine-tuning it for particular use cases. But, recognizing that those are likely to be costly and complex undertakings for most developers (fine-tuning or running Arctic LLM requires around eight GPUs), Snowflake’s also pledging to make Arctic LLM available across a range of hosts, including Hugging Face, Microsoft Azure, Together AI’s model-hosting service, and enterprise generative AI platform Lamini.<\/p>\n Here’s the rub, though: Arctic LLM will be available first<\/em> on Cortex, Snowflake’s platform for building AI- and machine learning-powered apps and services. The company’s unsurprisingly pitching it as the preferred way to run Arctic LLM with “security,” “governance” and scalability.<\/p>\n “<\/span>Our dream here is, within a year, to have an API that our customers can use so that business users can directly talk to data,” Ramaswamy said. “It would’ve<\/span> been easy for us to say, ‘Oh, we’ll just wait for some open source model and we’ll use it. Instead, we’re making a foundational investment because we think [it’s] going to unlock more value for our customers.”<\/span><\/p>\n So I’m left wondering: Who’s Arctic LLM really for besides Snowflake customers?<\/p>\n In a landscape full of “open<\/a>” generative models that can be fine-tuned for practically any purpose, Arctic LLM doesn’t stand out in any obvious way. Its architecture might bring efficiency gains over some of the other options out there. But I’m not convinced that they’ll be dramatic enough to sway enterprises away from the countless other well-known and -supported, business-friendly generative models (e.g. GPT-4<\/a>).<\/p>\n There’s also a point in Arctic LLM’s disfavor to consider: its relatively small context.<\/p>\n In generative AI, context window refers to input data (e.g. text) that a model considers before generating output (e.g. more text). Models with small context windows are prone to forgetting the content of even very recent conversations, while models with larger contexts typically avoid this pitfall.<\/p>\n Arctic LLM’s context is between ~8,000 and ~24,000 words, dependent on the fine-tuning method — far below that of models like Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus and Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro.<\/p>\n Snowflake doesn’t mention it in the marketing, but Arctic LLM almost certainly suffers from the same limitations and shortcomings as other generative AI models \u2014 namely, hallucinations<\/a> (i.e. confidently answering requests incorrectly). That’s because Arctic LLM, along with every other generative AI model in existence, is a statistical probability machine — one that, again, has a small context window. It guesses based on vast amounts of examples which data makes the most “sense” to place where (e.g. the word “go” before “the market” in the sentence “I go to the market”). It’ll inevitably guess wrong \u2014 and that’s a “hallucination.”<\/p>\n As Devin writes in his piece, until the next major technical breakthrough, incremental improvements are all we have to look forward to in the generative AI domain. That won’t stop vendors like Snowflake from championing them as great achievements, though, and marketing them for all they’re worth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All-around, highly generalizable generative AI models were the name of the game once, and they arguably still are. But increasingly, as cloud vendors large and small join the generative AI fray, we’re seeing a new crop of models focused on the deepest-pocketed potential customers: the enterprise. Case in point: Snowflake, the cloud computing company, today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2622892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"a07274c3-e23a-3cc2-9c23-f35153d02a9e","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_id":"e6a22266-04d3-473b-9f5b-c5b5b7ae9761","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A5qIiZgTTRzufW8W1t66XYQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[14067,15328,576717904,924097],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nSnowflake releases a flagship generative AI model of its own | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
“Arctic LLM addresses specific needs within the enterprise sector,” Baris Gultekin, head of AI at Snowflake, told TechCrunch in an interview, “diverging from generic AI applications like composing poetry to focus on enterprise-oriented challenges, such as developing SQL co-pilots and high-quality chatbots.”<\/p>\n
Arctic LLM, like DBRX and Google’s top-performing generative model of the moment, Gemini 1.5 Pro, is a mixture of experts (MoE) architecture. MoE architectures basically break down data processing tasks into subtasks and then delegate them to smaller, specialized “expert” models. So, while Arctic LLM contains 480 billion parameters, it only activates 17 billion at a time \u2014 enough to drive the 128 separate expert models. (Parameters essentially define the skill of an AI model on a problem, like analyzing and generating text.)<\/p>\n
Snowflake claims that this efficient design enabled it to train Arctic LLM on open public web data sets (including RefinedWeb<\/a>, C4<\/a>, RedPajama<\/a> and StarCoder<\/a>) at “roughly one-eighth the cost of similar models.”<\/p>\nRunning everywhere<\/h2>\n Snowflake is providing resources like coding templates and a list of training sources alongside Arctic LLM to guide users through the process of getting the model up and running and fine-tuning it for particular use cases. But, recognizing that those are likely to be costly and complex undertakings for most developers (fine-tuning or running Arctic LLM requires around eight GPUs), Snowflake’s also pledging to make Arctic LLM available across a range of hosts, including Hugging Face, Microsoft Azure, Together AI’s model-hosting service, and enterprise generative AI platform Lamini.<\/p>\n Here’s the rub, though: Arctic LLM will be available first<\/em> on Cortex, Snowflake’s platform for building AI- and machine learning-powered apps and services. The company’s unsurprisingly pitching it as the preferred way to run Arctic LLM with “security,” “governance” and scalability.<\/p>\n “<\/span>Our dream here is, within a year, to have an API that our customers can use so that business users can directly talk to data,” Ramaswamy said. “It would’ve<\/span> been easy for us to say, ‘Oh, we’ll just wait for some open source model and we’ll use it. Instead, we’re making a foundational investment because we think [it’s] going to unlock more value for our customers.”<\/span><\/p>\n So I’m left wondering: Who’s Arctic LLM really for besides Snowflake customers?<\/p>\n In a landscape full of “open<\/a>” generative models that can be fine-tuned for practically any purpose, Arctic LLM doesn’t stand out in any obvious way. Its architecture might bring efficiency gains over some of the other options out there. But I’m not convinced that they’ll be dramatic enough to sway enterprises away from the countless other well-known and -supported, business-friendly generative models (e.g. GPT-4<\/a>).<\/p>\n There’s also a point in Arctic LLM’s disfavor to consider: its relatively small context.<\/p>\n In generative AI, context window refers to input data (e.g. text) that a model considers before generating output (e.g. more text). Models with small context windows are prone to forgetting the content of even very recent conversations, while models with larger contexts typically avoid this pitfall.<\/p>\n Arctic LLM’s context is between ~8,000 and ~24,000 words, dependent on the fine-tuning method — far below that of models like Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus and Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro.<\/p>\n Snowflake doesn’t mention it in the marketing, but Arctic LLM almost certainly suffers from the same limitations and shortcomings as other generative AI models \u2014 namely, hallucinations<\/a> (i.e. confidently answering requests incorrectly). That’s because Arctic LLM, along with every other generative AI model in existence, is a statistical probability machine — one that, again, has a small context window. It guesses based on vast amounts of examples which data makes the most “sense” to place where (e.g. the word “go” before “the market” in the sentence “I go to the market”). It’ll inevitably guess wrong \u2014 and that’s a “hallucination.”<\/p>\n As Devin writes in his piece, until the next major technical breakthrough, incremental improvements are all we have to look forward to in the generative AI domain. That won’t stop vendors like Snowflake from championing them as great achievements, though, and marketing them for all they’re worth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All-around, highly generalizable generative AI models were the name of the game once, and they arguably still are. But increasingly, as cloud vendors large and small join the generative AI fray, we’re seeing a new crop of models focused on the deepest-pocketed potential customers: the enterprise. Case in point: Snowflake, the cloud computing company, today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2622892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"a07274c3-e23a-3cc2-9c23-f35153d02a9e","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_id":"e6a22266-04d3-473b-9f5b-c5b5b7ae9761","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A5qIiZgTTRzufW8W1t66XYQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[14067,15328,576717904,924097],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nSnowflake releases a flagship generative AI model of its own | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Snowflake is providing resources like coding templates and a list of training sources alongside Arctic LLM to guide users through the process of getting the model up and running and fine-tuning it for particular use cases. But, recognizing that those are likely to be costly and complex undertakings for most developers (fine-tuning or running Arctic LLM requires around eight GPUs), Snowflake’s also pledging to make Arctic LLM available across a range of hosts, including Hugging Face, Microsoft Azure, Together AI’s model-hosting service, and enterprise generative AI platform Lamini.<\/p>\n
Here’s the rub, though: Arctic LLM will be available first<\/em> on Cortex, Snowflake’s platform for building AI- and machine learning-powered apps and services. The company’s unsurprisingly pitching it as the preferred way to run Arctic LLM with “security,” “governance” and scalability.<\/p>\n “<\/span>Our dream here is, within a year, to have an API that our customers can use so that business users can directly talk to data,” Ramaswamy said. “It would’ve<\/span> been easy for us to say, ‘Oh, we’ll just wait for some open source model and we’ll use it. Instead, we’re making a foundational investment because we think [it’s] going to unlock more value for our customers.”<\/span><\/p>\n So I’m left wondering: Who’s Arctic LLM really for besides Snowflake customers?<\/p>\n In a landscape full of “open<\/a>” generative models that can be fine-tuned for practically any purpose, Arctic LLM doesn’t stand out in any obvious way. Its architecture might bring efficiency gains over some of the other options out there. But I’m not convinced that they’ll be dramatic enough to sway enterprises away from the countless other well-known and -supported, business-friendly generative models (e.g. GPT-4<\/a>).<\/p>\n There’s also a point in Arctic LLM’s disfavor to consider: its relatively small context.<\/p>\n In generative AI, context window refers to input data (e.g. text) that a model considers before generating output (e.g. more text). Models with small context windows are prone to forgetting the content of even very recent conversations, while models with larger contexts typically avoid this pitfall.<\/p>\n Arctic LLM’s context is between ~8,000 and ~24,000 words, dependent on the fine-tuning method — far below that of models like Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus and Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro.<\/p>\n Snowflake doesn’t mention it in the marketing, but Arctic LLM almost certainly suffers from the same limitations and shortcomings as other generative AI models \u2014 namely, hallucinations<\/a> (i.e. confidently answering requests incorrectly). That’s because Arctic LLM, along with every other generative AI model in existence, is a statistical probability machine — one that, again, has a small context window. It guesses based on vast amounts of examples which data makes the most “sense” to place where (e.g. the word “go” before “the market” in the sentence “I go to the market”). It’ll inevitably guess wrong \u2014 and that’s a “hallucination.”<\/p>\n As Devin writes in his piece, until the next major technical breakthrough, incremental improvements are all we have to look forward to in the generative AI domain. That won’t stop vendors like Snowflake from championing them as great achievements, though, and marketing them for all they’re worth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All-around, highly generalizable generative AI models were the name of the game once, and they arguably still are. But increasingly, as cloud vendors large and small join the generative AI fray, we’re seeing a new crop of models focused on the deepest-pocketed potential customers: the enterprise. Case in point: Snowflake, the cloud computing company, today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2622892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"a07274c3-e23a-3cc2-9c23-f35153d02a9e","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_id":"e6a22266-04d3-473b-9f5b-c5b5b7ae9761","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A5qIiZgTTRzufW8W1t66XYQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[14067,15328,576717904,924097],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nSnowflake releases a flagship generative AI model of its own | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
“<\/span>Our dream here is, within a year, to have an API that our customers can use so that business users can directly talk to data,” Ramaswamy said. “It would’ve<\/span> been easy for us to say, ‘Oh, we’ll just wait for some open source model and we’ll use it. Instead, we’re making a foundational investment because we think [it’s] going to unlock more value for our customers.”<\/span><\/p>\n So I’m left wondering: Who’s Arctic LLM really for besides Snowflake customers?<\/p>\n In a landscape full of “open<\/a>” generative models that can be fine-tuned for practically any purpose, Arctic LLM doesn’t stand out in any obvious way. Its architecture might bring efficiency gains over some of the other options out there. But I’m not convinced that they’ll be dramatic enough to sway enterprises away from the countless other well-known and -supported, business-friendly generative models (e.g. GPT-4<\/a>).<\/p>\n There’s also a point in Arctic LLM’s disfavor to consider: its relatively small context.<\/p>\n In generative AI, context window refers to input data (e.g. text) that a model considers before generating output (e.g. more text). Models with small context windows are prone to forgetting the content of even very recent conversations, while models with larger contexts typically avoid this pitfall.<\/p>\n Arctic LLM’s context is between ~8,000 and ~24,000 words, dependent on the fine-tuning method — far below that of models like Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus and Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro.<\/p>\n Snowflake doesn’t mention it in the marketing, but Arctic LLM almost certainly suffers from the same limitations and shortcomings as other generative AI models \u2014 namely, hallucinations<\/a> (i.e. confidently answering requests incorrectly). That’s because Arctic LLM, along with every other generative AI model in existence, is a statistical probability machine — one that, again, has a small context window. It guesses based on vast amounts of examples which data makes the most “sense” to place where (e.g. the word “go” before “the market” in the sentence “I go to the market”). It’ll inevitably guess wrong \u2014 and that’s a “hallucination.”<\/p>\n As Devin writes in his piece, until the next major technical breakthrough, incremental improvements are all we have to look forward to in the generative AI domain. That won’t stop vendors like Snowflake from championing them as great achievements, though, and marketing them for all they’re worth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All-around, highly generalizable generative AI models were the name of the game once, and they arguably still are. But increasingly, as cloud vendors large and small join the generative AI fray, we’re seeing a new crop of models focused on the deepest-pocketed potential customers: the enterprise. Case in point: Snowflake, the cloud computing company, today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2622892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"a07274c3-e23a-3cc2-9c23-f35153d02a9e","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_id":"e6a22266-04d3-473b-9f5b-c5b5b7ae9761","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A5qIiZgTTRzufW8W1t66XYQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[14067,15328,576717904,924097],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nSnowflake releases a flagship generative AI model of its own | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
So I’m left wondering: Who’s Arctic LLM really for besides Snowflake customers?<\/p>\n
In a landscape full of “open<\/a>” generative models that can be fine-tuned for practically any purpose, Arctic LLM doesn’t stand out in any obvious way. Its architecture might bring efficiency gains over some of the other options out there. But I’m not convinced that they’ll be dramatic enough to sway enterprises away from the countless other well-known and -supported, business-friendly generative models (e.g. GPT-4<\/a>).<\/p>\n There’s also a point in Arctic LLM’s disfavor to consider: its relatively small context.<\/p>\n In generative AI, context window refers to input data (e.g. text) that a model considers before generating output (e.g. more text). Models with small context windows are prone to forgetting the content of even very recent conversations, while models with larger contexts typically avoid this pitfall.<\/p>\n Arctic LLM’s context is between ~8,000 and ~24,000 words, dependent on the fine-tuning method — far below that of models like Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus and Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro.<\/p>\n Snowflake doesn’t mention it in the marketing, but Arctic LLM almost certainly suffers from the same limitations and shortcomings as other generative AI models \u2014 namely, hallucinations<\/a> (i.e. confidently answering requests incorrectly). That’s because Arctic LLM, along with every other generative AI model in existence, is a statistical probability machine — one that, again, has a small context window. It guesses based on vast amounts of examples which data makes the most “sense” to place where (e.g. the word “go” before “the market” in the sentence “I go to the market”). It’ll inevitably guess wrong \u2014 and that’s a “hallucination.”<\/p>\n As Devin writes in his piece, until the next major technical breakthrough, incremental improvements are all we have to look forward to in the generative AI domain. That won’t stop vendors like Snowflake from championing them as great achievements, though, and marketing them for all they’re worth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All-around, highly generalizable generative AI models were the name of the game once, and they arguably still are. But increasingly, as cloud vendors large and small join the generative AI fray, we’re seeing a new crop of models focused on the deepest-pocketed potential customers: the enterprise. Case in point: Snowflake, the cloud computing company, today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2622892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"a07274c3-e23a-3cc2-9c23-f35153d02a9e","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_id":"e6a22266-04d3-473b-9f5b-c5b5b7ae9761","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A5qIiZgTTRzufW8W1t66XYQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[14067,15328,576717904,924097],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nSnowflake releases a flagship generative AI model of its own | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
There’s also a point in Arctic LLM’s disfavor to consider: its relatively small context.<\/p>\n
In generative AI, context window refers to input data (e.g. text) that a model considers before generating output (e.g. more text). Models with small context windows are prone to forgetting the content of even very recent conversations, while models with larger contexts typically avoid this pitfall.<\/p>\n
Arctic LLM’s context is between ~8,000 and ~24,000 words, dependent on the fine-tuning method — far below that of models like Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus and Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro.<\/p>\n
Snowflake doesn’t mention it in the marketing, but Arctic LLM almost certainly suffers from the same limitations and shortcomings as other generative AI models \u2014 namely, hallucinations<\/a> (i.e. confidently answering requests incorrectly). That’s because Arctic LLM, along with every other generative AI model in existence, is a statistical probability machine — one that, again, has a small context window. It guesses based on vast amounts of examples which data makes the most “sense” to place where (e.g. the word “go” before “the market” in the sentence “I go to the market”). It’ll inevitably guess wrong \u2014 and that’s a “hallucination.”<\/p>\n As Devin writes in his piece, until the next major technical breakthrough, incremental improvements are all we have to look forward to in the generative AI domain. That won’t stop vendors like Snowflake from championing them as great achievements, though, and marketing them for all they’re worth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All-around, highly generalizable generative AI models were the name of the game once, and they arguably still are. But increasingly, as cloud vendors large and small join the generative AI fray, we’re seeing a new crop of models focused on the deepest-pocketed potential customers: the enterprise. Case in point: Snowflake, the cloud computing company, today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2622892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"a07274c3-e23a-3cc2-9c23-f35153d02a9e","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_id":"e6a22266-04d3-473b-9f5b-c5b5b7ae9761","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A5qIiZgTTRzufW8W1t66XYQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[14067,15328,576717904,924097],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nSnowflake releases a flagship generative AI model of its own | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
As Devin writes in his piece, until the next major technical breakthrough, incremental improvements are all we have to look forward to in the generative AI domain. That won’t stop vendors like Snowflake from championing them as great achievements, though, and marketing them for all they’re worth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
All-around, highly generalizable generative AI models were the name of the game once, and they arguably still are. But increasingly, as cloud vendors large and small join the generative AI fray, we’re seeing a new crop of models focused on the deepest-pocketed potential customers: the enterprise. Case in point: Snowflake, the cloud computing company, today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2622892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"a07274c3-e23a-3cc2-9c23-f35153d02a9e","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_id":"e6a22266-04d3-473b-9f5b-c5b5b7ae9761","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:00:33Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A5qIiZgTTRzufW8W1t66XYQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[14067,15328,576717904,924097],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nSnowflake releases a flagship generative AI model of its own | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Kyle Wiggers is a senior reporter at TechCrunch with a special interest in artificial intelligence. His writing has appeared in VentureBeat and Digital Trends, as well as a range of gadget blogs including Android Police, Android Authority, Droid-Life, and XDA-Developers. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, a piano educator, and dabbles in piano himself occasionally -- if mostly unsuccessfully.<\/p>","cbAvatar":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Kyle-Wiggers.jpg","twitter":"kyle_l_wiggers","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/133574536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users"}]}}],"author":[{"id":133574536,"name":"Kyle Wiggers","url":"","description":"Kyle Wiggers is a senior reporter at TechCrunch with a special interest in artificial intelligence. His writing has appeared in VentureBeat and Digital Trends, as well as a range of gadget blogs including Android Police, Android Authority, Droid-Life, and XDA-Developers. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, a piano educator, and dabbles in piano himself. occasionally -- if mostly unsuccessfully.","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/author\/kyle-wiggers\/","slug":"kyle-wiggers","avatar_urls":{"24":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c444ee74e16b994683cd9c6497173dda?s=24&d=identicon&r=g","48":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c444ee74e16b994683cd9c6497173dda?s=48&d=identicon&r=g","96":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c444ee74e16b994683cd9c6497173dda?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"},"yoast_head":"\nKyle Wiggers, Author at TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Kyle Wiggers is a senior reporter at TechCrunch with a special interest in artificial intelligence. His writing has appeared in VentureBeat and Digital Trends, as well as a range of gadget blogs including Android Police, Android Authority, Droid-Life, and XDA-Developers. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, a piano educator, and dabbles in piano himself occasionally -- if mostly unsuccessfully.<\/p>","cbAvatar":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Kyle-Wiggers.jpg","twitter":"kyle_l_wiggers","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/133574536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users"}]}}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"id":2622892,"date":"2023-11-01T06:37:14","slug":"mobile-world-congress-2023-barcelona-logotypes-3","type":"attachment","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2023\/11\/01\/snowflake-brings-together-neeva-and-streamlit-acquisitions-in-new-genai-tool\/mobile-world-congress-2023-barcelona-logotypes-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile World Congress 2023 Barcelona Logotypes"},"author":521068,"featured_media":0,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"license":{"source_key":"getty images","person":"Joan Cros\/NurPhoto"},"authors":[521068],"caption":{"rendered":"
BARCELONA, SPAIN – MARCH 2: The Snowflake Inc. logo, an American computing-based data cloud company that has a strong partnership with Salesforce, displayed on their stand during the Mobile World Congress 2023 on March 2, 2023, in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Joan Cros\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n"},"alt_text":"Snowflake logo at peak of two pieces of angled wood.","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","media_details":{"width":1024,"height":683,"file":"2023\/11\/GettyImages-1247904274.jpg","filesize":113036,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?resize=150,100","width":150,"height":100,"filesize":113036,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?w=150"},"medium":{"file":"GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?resize=300,200","width":300,"height":200,"filesize":113036,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?w=300"},"medium_large":{"file":"GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?resize=768,512","width":768,"height":512,"filesize":113036,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?w=1024"},"large":{"file":"GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?resize=680,454","width":680,"height":454,"filesize":113036,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?w=680"},"guest-author-32":{"file":"GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?resize=32,32","width":32,"height":32,"filesize":113036,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?w=32&h=32&crop=1"},"guest-author-50":{"file":"GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?resize=50,50","width":50,"height":50,"filesize":113036,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?w=50&h=50&crop=1"},"guest-author-64":{"file":"GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?resize=64,64","width":64,"height":64,"filesize":113036,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?w=64&h=64&crop=1"},"guest-author-96":{"file":"GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?resize=96,96","width":96,"height":96,"filesize":113036,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?w=96&h=96&crop=1"},"guest-author-128":{"file":"GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?resize=128,128","width":128,"height":128,"filesize":113036,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?w=128&h=128&crop=1"},"concierge-thumb":{"file":"GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?resize=50,33","width":50,"height":33,"filesize":113036,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1247904274.jpg?w=50"},"full":{"file":"GettyImages-1247904274.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1247904274.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"2.8","credit":"NurPhoto via Getty Images","camera":"Canon EOS R6","caption":"BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 2: The Snowflake Inc. logo, an American computing-based data cloud company that has a strong partnership with Salesforce, displayed on their stand during the Mobile World Congress 2023 on March 2, 2023, in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Joan Cros\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1677671731","copyright":"Joan Cros\/NurPhoto","focal_length":"20","iso":"1250","shutter_speed":"0.002","title":"Mobile World Congress 2023 Barcelona Logotypes","orientation":"0","keywords":["barcelona","busines","digital","mobile fair","mobile world congress","smart","trandeshow","background","mwc","connectivity","future","gsma","iot","mobile","telecom","intelligence of things","telecommunication","telecommunications","world","fira barcelona","logotype","brand","stand","congress attendants","attendants","visitors","snowflake inc.","cloud company"]}},"source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1247904274.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2622892"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/attachment"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2622892"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/521068"}]}}],"wp:term":[[{"id":577047203,"description":"News coverage on artificial intelligence and machine learning tech, the companies building them, and the ethical issues AI raises today. This encompasses generative AI, including large language models, text-to-image and text-to-video models; speech recognition and generation; and predictive analytics.","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/category\/artificial-intelligence\/","name":"AI","slug":"artificial-intelligence","taxonomy":"category","parent":0,"yoast_head":"\nAI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n
When Trace\u2019s future co-founders Greg Tran, Martin Smith and Sean Couture joined Magic Leap in Spring\/Summer 2015, it was about as hot as startups come. After years of secrecy, the augmented reality company captured Silicon Valley’s imagination with in-device footage, before capping the year with an $827 million raise.<\/p>\n
The story of the intervening years is one of a massively funded and extremely promising startup struggling to find market fit. Tran exited his creative director role in January 2020, while Couture and Smith left in July 2020 and February 2021, respectively.<\/p>\n
Trace<\/a> was founded in 2021, with Tran, Smith and Couture stepping into the respective roles of CEO, CTO and head of 3D Art. The startup, which builds location-based branded augmented reality experiences, is a product of some of Magic Leap\u2019s early content struggles.<\/p>\n <\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to make AR content,\u201d Tran tells TechCrunch. \u201cIt\u2019s really early in the ecosystem. There were a lot of partners with Magic Leap. Whenever they wanted to make content, it would take three to six months to do, take experts in development and 3D art and whole teams of people. We saw an opportunity to make that process a lot easier.\u201d<\/p>\n Trace is a far more modest firm than Magic Leap. In addition to its three founders, the company employs a handful of contractors. Magic Leap\u2019s funding now tops $4 billion. Trace, on the other hand, is announcing a $2 million pre-seed this week, co-led by Rev1<\/span>\u00a0Ventures and Impellent Ventures. Still, the company has already teamed with some high-profile names, including Qualcomm, Telef\u00f3nica, T-Mobile and Lenovo.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Trace<\/p><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n If you attended Mobile World Congress this year, you may have encountered the AR experience it built for Deutsche Telekom. Or perhaps you saw the mixed reality offering it built for the Hip Hop 50 Summit last year in New York.<\/p>\n Trace\u2019s offering centers around a creator app designed to easily add AR content to a real-world space. Tran likens it to a Squarespace for AR experiences. Once in place, a user can access the digital content through Trace\u2019s app or a web browser.<\/p>\n The creator experience has thus far been limited to a private beta, but Trace expects to open it to the public over the next few months. When that happens, companies will be able to produce experiences as part of a subscription-based offering.<\/p>\n One way the company is very much in line with Magic Leap, however, is its focus on enterprise clients.<\/p>\n \u201cThe partners that we\u2019ve had so far have been some of these big brand companies,\u201d says Tran. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on some of those enterprise-level partners first [\u2026] This is a consumer-facing product, in a way, but we see there being more opportunity in the enterprise space right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Trace\u2019s future co-founders Greg Tran, Martin Smith and Sean Couture joined Magic Leap in Spring\/Summer 2015, it was about as hot as startups come. After years of secrecy, the augmented reality company captured Silicon Valley’s imagination with in-device footage, before capping the year with an $827 million raise. The story of the intervening years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":699688,"featured_media":2695589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"197c5d6a-f492-390c-b99f-4015e2473cf5","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:01:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"86919b8b-a823-49c0-b925-5e3774404167","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T12:01:20Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AhpGbi6gjScC5JV43dEBBZw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577051039,577234943,20429],"tags":[38299,282669,22376,134650847,355983],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Magic Leapers launch a platform for AR experiences | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to make AR content,\u201d Tran tells TechCrunch. \u201cIt\u2019s really early in the ecosystem. There were a lot of partners with Magic Leap. Whenever they wanted to make content, it would take three to six months to do, take experts in development and 3D art and whole teams of people. We saw an opportunity to make that process a lot easier.\u201d<\/p>\n Trace is a far more modest firm than Magic Leap. In addition to its three founders, the company employs a handful of contractors. Magic Leap\u2019s funding now tops $4 billion. Trace, on the other hand, is announcing a $2 million pre-seed this week, co-led by Rev1<\/span>\u00a0Ventures and Impellent Ventures. Still, the company has already teamed with some high-profile names, including Qualcomm, Telef\u00f3nica, T-Mobile and Lenovo.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Trace<\/p><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n If you attended Mobile World Congress this year, you may have encountered the AR experience it built for Deutsche Telekom. Or perhaps you saw the mixed reality offering it built for the Hip Hop 50 Summit last year in New York.<\/p>\n Trace\u2019s offering centers around a creator app designed to easily add AR content to a real-world space. Tran likens it to a Squarespace for AR experiences. Once in place, a user can access the digital content through Trace\u2019s app or a web browser.<\/p>\n The creator experience has thus far been limited to a private beta, but Trace expects to open it to the public over the next few months. When that happens, companies will be able to produce experiences as part of a subscription-based offering.<\/p>\n One way the company is very much in line with Magic Leap, however, is its focus on enterprise clients.<\/p>\n \u201cThe partners that we\u2019ve had so far have been some of these big brand companies,\u201d says Tran. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on some of those enterprise-level partners first [\u2026] This is a consumer-facing product, in a way, but we see there being more opportunity in the enterprise space right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Trace\u2019s future co-founders Greg Tran, Martin Smith and Sean Couture joined Magic Leap in Spring\/Summer 2015, it was about as hot as startups come. After years of secrecy, the augmented reality company captured Silicon Valley’s imagination with in-device footage, before capping the year with an $827 million raise. The story of the intervening years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":699688,"featured_media":2695589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"197c5d6a-f492-390c-b99f-4015e2473cf5","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:01:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"86919b8b-a823-49c0-b925-5e3774404167","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T12:01:20Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AhpGbi6gjScC5JV43dEBBZw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577051039,577234943,20429],"tags":[38299,282669,22376,134650847,355983],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Magic Leapers launch a platform for AR experiences | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to make AR content,\u201d Tran tells TechCrunch. \u201cIt\u2019s really early in the ecosystem. There were a lot of partners with Magic Leap. Whenever they wanted to make content, it would take three to six months to do, take experts in development and 3D art and whole teams of people. We saw an opportunity to make that process a lot easier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trace is a far more modest firm than Magic Leap. In addition to its three founders, the company employs a handful of contractors. Magic Leap\u2019s funding now tops $4 billion. Trace, on the other hand, is announcing a $2 million pre-seed this week, co-led by Rev1<\/span>\u00a0Ventures and Impellent Ventures. Still, the company has already teamed with some high-profile names, including Qualcomm, Telef\u00f3nica, T-Mobile and Lenovo.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Trace<\/p><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n If you attended Mobile World Congress this year, you may have encountered the AR experience it built for Deutsche Telekom. Or perhaps you saw the mixed reality offering it built for the Hip Hop 50 Summit last year in New York.<\/p>\n Trace\u2019s offering centers around a creator app designed to easily add AR content to a real-world space. Tran likens it to a Squarespace for AR experiences. Once in place, a user can access the digital content through Trace\u2019s app or a web browser.<\/p>\n The creator experience has thus far been limited to a private beta, but Trace expects to open it to the public over the next few months. When that happens, companies will be able to produce experiences as part of a subscription-based offering.<\/p>\n One way the company is very much in line with Magic Leap, however, is its focus on enterprise clients.<\/p>\n \u201cThe partners that we\u2019ve had so far have been some of these big brand companies,\u201d says Tran. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on some of those enterprise-level partners first [\u2026] This is a consumer-facing product, in a way, but we see there being more opportunity in the enterprise space right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Trace\u2019s future co-founders Greg Tran, Martin Smith and Sean Couture joined Magic Leap in Spring\/Summer 2015, it was about as hot as startups come. After years of secrecy, the augmented reality company captured Silicon Valley’s imagination with in-device footage, before capping the year with an $827 million raise. The story of the intervening years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":699688,"featured_media":2695589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"197c5d6a-f492-390c-b99f-4015e2473cf5","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:01:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"86919b8b-a823-49c0-b925-5e3774404167","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T12:01:20Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AhpGbi6gjScC5JV43dEBBZw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577051039,577234943,20429],"tags":[38299,282669,22376,134650847,355983],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Magic Leapers launch a platform for AR experiences | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Image Credits:<\/strong> Trace<\/p><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n If you attended Mobile World Congress this year, you may have encountered the AR experience it built for Deutsche Telekom. Or perhaps you saw the mixed reality offering it built for the Hip Hop 50 Summit last year in New York.<\/p>\n Trace\u2019s offering centers around a creator app designed to easily add AR content to a real-world space. Tran likens it to a Squarespace for AR experiences. Once in place, a user can access the digital content through Trace\u2019s app or a web browser.<\/p>\n The creator experience has thus far been limited to a private beta, but Trace expects to open it to the public over the next few months. When that happens, companies will be able to produce experiences as part of a subscription-based offering.<\/p>\n One way the company is very much in line with Magic Leap, however, is its focus on enterprise clients.<\/p>\n \u201cThe partners that we\u2019ve had so far have been some of these big brand companies,\u201d says Tran. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on some of those enterprise-level partners first [\u2026] This is a consumer-facing product, in a way, but we see there being more opportunity in the enterprise space right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Trace\u2019s future co-founders Greg Tran, Martin Smith and Sean Couture joined Magic Leap in Spring\/Summer 2015, it was about as hot as startups come. After years of secrecy, the augmented reality company captured Silicon Valley’s imagination with in-device footage, before capping the year with an $827 million raise. The story of the intervening years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":699688,"featured_media":2695589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"197c5d6a-f492-390c-b99f-4015e2473cf5","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:01:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"86919b8b-a823-49c0-b925-5e3774404167","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T12:01:20Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AhpGbi6gjScC5JV43dEBBZw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577051039,577234943,20429],"tags":[38299,282669,22376,134650847,355983],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Magic Leapers launch a platform for AR experiences | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Image Credits:<\/strong> Trace<\/p><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n If you attended Mobile World Congress this year, you may have encountered the AR experience it built for Deutsche Telekom. Or perhaps you saw the mixed reality offering it built for the Hip Hop 50 Summit last year in New York.<\/p>\n Trace\u2019s offering centers around a creator app designed to easily add AR content to a real-world space. Tran likens it to a Squarespace for AR experiences. Once in place, a user can access the digital content through Trace\u2019s app or a web browser.<\/p>\n The creator experience has thus far been limited to a private beta, but Trace expects to open it to the public over the next few months. When that happens, companies will be able to produce experiences as part of a subscription-based offering.<\/p>\n One way the company is very much in line with Magic Leap, however, is its focus on enterprise clients.<\/p>\n \u201cThe partners that we\u2019ve had so far have been some of these big brand companies,\u201d says Tran. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on some of those enterprise-level partners first [\u2026] This is a consumer-facing product, in a way, but we see there being more opportunity in the enterprise space right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Trace\u2019s future co-founders Greg Tran, Martin Smith and Sean Couture joined Magic Leap in Spring\/Summer 2015, it was about as hot as startups come. After years of secrecy, the augmented reality company captured Silicon Valley’s imagination with in-device footage, before capping the year with an $827 million raise. The story of the intervening years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":699688,"featured_media":2695589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"197c5d6a-f492-390c-b99f-4015e2473cf5","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:01:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"86919b8b-a823-49c0-b925-5e3774404167","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T12:01:20Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AhpGbi6gjScC5JV43dEBBZw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577051039,577234943,20429],"tags":[38299,282669,22376,134650847,355983],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Magic Leapers launch a platform for AR experiences | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
If you attended Mobile World Congress this year, you may have encountered the AR experience it built for Deutsche Telekom. Or perhaps you saw the mixed reality offering it built for the Hip Hop 50 Summit last year in New York.<\/p>\n
Trace\u2019s offering centers around a creator app designed to easily add AR content to a real-world space. Tran likens it to a Squarespace for AR experiences. Once in place, a user can access the digital content through Trace\u2019s app or a web browser.<\/p>\n
The creator experience has thus far been limited to a private beta, but Trace expects to open it to the public over the next few months. When that happens, companies will be able to produce experiences as part of a subscription-based offering.<\/p>\n
One way the company is very much in line with Magic Leap, however, is its focus on enterprise clients.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe partners that we\u2019ve had so far have been some of these big brand companies,\u201d says Tran. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on some of those enterprise-level partners first [\u2026] This is a consumer-facing product, in a way, but we see there being more opportunity in the enterprise space right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Trace\u2019s future co-founders Greg Tran, Martin Smith and Sean Couture joined Magic Leap in Spring\/Summer 2015, it was about as hot as startups come. After years of secrecy, the augmented reality company captured Silicon Valley’s imagination with in-device footage, before capping the year with an $827 million raise. The story of the intervening years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":699688,"featured_media":2695589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"197c5d6a-f492-390c-b99f-4015e2473cf5","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:01:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"86919b8b-a823-49c0-b925-5e3774404167","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T12:01:20Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AhpGbi6gjScC5JV43dEBBZw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577051039,577234943,20429],"tags":[38299,282669,22376,134650847,355983],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Magic Leapers launch a platform for AR experiences | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Brian Heater is the Hardware Editor at TechCrunch. He worked for a number of leading tech publications, including Engadget, PCMag, Laptop, and Tech Times, where he served as the Managing Editor. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Juniper.<\/p>","cbAvatar":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/xynitsmpgmmobpekzxkg.jpg.jpg","twitter":"bheater","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/699688"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users"}]}}],"author":[{"id":699688,"name":"Brian Heater","url":"http:\/\/bheater","description":"","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/author\/brian-heater\/","slug":"brian-heater","avatar_urls":{"24":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=24&d=identicon&r=g","48":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=48&d=identicon&r=g","96":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"},"yoast_head":"\nBrian Heater, Author at TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Brian Heater is the Hardware Editor at TechCrunch. He worked for a number of leading tech publications, including Engadget, PCMag, Laptop, and Tech Times, where he served as the Managing Editor. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Juniper.<\/p>","cbAvatar":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/xynitsmpgmmobpekzxkg.jpg.jpg","twitter":"bheater","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/699688"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users"}]}}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"id":2695589,"date":"2024-04-23T12:52:39","slug":"iphone-x-in-hand-5","type":"attachment","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2024\/04\/24\/former-magic-leapers-launch-a-platform-for-ar-experiences\/iphone-x-in-hand-5\/","title":{"rendered":"iPhone X in hand 5"},"author":699688,"featured_media":0,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"license":{"person":"Trace"},"authors":[699688],"caption":{"rendered":"
iPhone X in hand 5<\/p>\n"},"alt_text":"iPhone X in hand","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","media_details":{"width":1920,"height":1080,"file":"2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg","filesize":1335315,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?resize=150,84","width":150,"height":84,"filesize":1335315,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?w=150"},"medium":{"file":"Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?resize=300,169","width":300,"height":169,"filesize":1335315,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?w=300"},"medium_large":{"file":"Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?resize=768,432","width":768,"height":432,"filesize":1335315,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?w=1024"},"large":{"file":"Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?resize=680,383","width":680,"height":383,"filesize":1335315,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?w=680"},"1536x1536":{"file":"Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?resize=1536,864","width":1536,"height":864,"filesize":1335315,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?w=1536"},"tc-social-image":{"file":"Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?resize=1200,675","width":1200,"height":675,"filesize":1335315,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?w=1200"},"guest-author-32":{"file":"Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?resize=32,32","width":32,"height":32,"filesize":1335315,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?w=32&h=32&crop=1"},"guest-author-50":{"file":"Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?resize=50,50","width":50,"height":50,"filesize":1335315,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?w=50&h=50&crop=1"},"guest-author-64":{"file":"Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?resize=64,64","width":64,"height":64,"filesize":1335315,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?w=64&h=64&crop=1"},"guest-author-96":{"file":"Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?resize=96,96","width":96,"height":96,"filesize":1335315,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?w=96&h=96&crop=1"},"guest-author-128":{"file":"Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?resize=128,128","width":128,"height":128,"filesize":1335315,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?w=128&h=128&crop=1"},"concierge-thumb":{"file":"Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?resize=50,28","width":50,"height":28,"filesize":1335315,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg?w=50"},"full":{"file":"Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg","width":1024,"height":576,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"\u00a9Asylab","camera":"","caption":"iPhone X in hand 5","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"\u00a9Asylab","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"iPhone X in hand 5","orientation":"1","keywords":[]}},"source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trace_RetailWelcome.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2695589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/attachment"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2695589"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/699688"}]}}],"wp:term":[[{"id":577051039,"description":"The app economy continues to grow, having produced a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and Google Play stores. Keep up with this fast-moving industry in one place, with the latest from the world of apps, including news, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and much more.","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/category\/apps\/","name":"Apps","slug":"apps","taxonomy":"category","parent":0,"yoast_head":"\nApps | Read the latest app news on TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching<\/a> preliminary enquiries into whether the close-knit tie-ups and hiring practices involving<\/a> Microsoft, Amazon and a<\/a> trio of AI startups<\/a> falls within the scope of its merger rules — and whether the arrangements could impact competition in the U.K. market.<\/p>\n The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of Big Tech’s approach to M&A in the world of AI, where critics argue that the so-called “quasi-merger<\/a>” has emerged as flavor of the day as a means of bypassing regulatory oversight. Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched its own enquiries<\/a> into the various investments made by Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft into emerging AI companies, to establish whether the “partnerships pursued by dominant companies risk distorting innovation and undermining fair competition.”<\/p>\n At the same time, governance around so-called “foundational models” (also “foundation” or “frontier” models) has also been on the regulatory agenda in Europe and elsewhere. Foundation models are basically the underlying infrastructure on which other AI systems can be built, serving as large-scale models that can be used for a variety of tasks.<\/p>\n The CMA’s executive director of mergers, Joel Bamford, said that it’s inviting comments from relevant parties as part of its evidence gathering, as it assesses whether these various partnerships are akin to mergers from a regulatory standpoint, and whether it might impact competition in the U.K.’s fast-growing AI industry.<\/p>\n “Foundation models have the potential to fundamentally impact the way we all live and work, including products and services across so many U.K. sectors \u2013 healthcare, energy, transport, finance and more,” Bamford said in a statement. “So open, fair, and effective competition in foundation model markets is critical to making sure the full benefits of this transformation are realised by people and businesses in the UK, as well as our wider economy where technology has a huge role to play in growth and productivity.”<\/p>\nCompetition<\/h2>\n The UK has previously noted concerns<\/a> around how the forging of partnerships involving “key players” in the foundation model space could help the “incumbent technology firms” (i.e. Big Tech) protect themselves from competition.\u00a0<\/span>While a straight forward acquisition would undoubtedly draw regulatory scrutiny, partnerships, investments, and “acqui-hires” could be a way of circumventing this oversight — or so the argument goes.<\/p>\n Microsoft’s investment in, and close partnership with<\/a>, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI attracted the CMA’s scrutiny late last year<\/a>, with the regulator launching a formal “invitation to comment” aimed at relevant stakeholders in the AI and business spheres. The European Commission (EC) followed suit with a similar investigation in January<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n Much has happened since then though. Microsoft hired the core team behind Inflection AI<\/a>, a U.S.-based OpenAI rival it had previously invested in. Earlier this month Microsoft launched a new London AI hub<\/a> fronted by former Inflection and DeepMind scientist Jordan Hoffmann.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Microsoft also recently invested in Mistral AI<\/a>, a French AI startup (and double unicorn<\/a>) working on foundational models.<\/p>\n A Microsoft spokesperson said that it will provide all the information needed by the CMA to complete its inquiries swiftly.<\/p>\n “We remain confident that common business practices such as the hiring of talent or making a fractional investment in an AI startup promote competition and are not the same as a merger,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Amazon, for its part, <\/span>recently completed<\/a>a $4 billion investment in Anthropic — another U.S.-based AI company working on large language models.<\/span><\/p>\n An Amazon spokesperson called the CMA’s move to review a collaboration of this type “unprecedented,” particularly when its partnership with Anthropic doesn’t give it a seat on the company’s board or even an observer’s role — unlike Microsoft, which did eventually procure<\/a> a non-voting “observer” role on OpenAI’s board last year. The spokesperson also noted that it isn’t restricting Anthropic’s ability to run models across different clouds.<\/p>\n “By investing in Anthropic, which has just released its industry-best new Claude 3 models<\/a>, we\u2019re helping make the generative AI segment more competitive than it\u2019s been the last couple years,” the spokesperson said in a statement issued to TechCrunch. “And, customers are very excited about the opportunities this collaboration is providing them. We\u2019re confident that the facts speak for themselves, and hope the CMA agrees to resolve this quickly.”<\/p>\n The CMA’s initial invitation to comment runs from today through May 9, a period known as “pre-notification.” This may lead to a formal “phase 1” review that will engage the target companies directly — in this case, Microsoft and Amazon. The whole phase 1 review period, if it progresses to that, must be completed within 40 days after which it must decide whether the partnerships qualify as a “relevant merger.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching preliminary enquiries into whether the close-knit tie-ups and hiring practices involving Microsoft, Amazon and a trio of AI startups falls within the scope of its merger rules — and whether the arrangements could impact competition in the U.K. market. The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574560,"featured_media":2695815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"96ed2dfe-6c46-3264-bdcd-583b32e486c3","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:16:06Z","apple_news_api_id":"72aad16f-91da-444f-b263-f478ae54b1ed","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:09:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AcqrRb5HaRE-yY_R4rlSx7Q","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577065682],"tags":[6602,576886827,576679667,577160407,637,577155789],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK probes Amazon and Microsoft over AI partnerships with Mistral, Anthropic, and Inflection | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of Big Tech’s approach to M&A in the world of AI, where critics argue that the so-called “quasi-merger<\/a>” has emerged as flavor of the day as a means of bypassing regulatory oversight. Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched its own enquiries<\/a> into the various investments made by Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft into emerging AI companies, to establish whether the “partnerships pursued by dominant companies risk distorting innovation and undermining fair competition.”<\/p>\n At the same time, governance around so-called “foundational models” (also “foundation” or “frontier” models) has also been on the regulatory agenda in Europe and elsewhere. Foundation models are basically the underlying infrastructure on which other AI systems can be built, serving as large-scale models that can be used for a variety of tasks.<\/p>\n The CMA’s executive director of mergers, Joel Bamford, said that it’s inviting comments from relevant parties as part of its evidence gathering, as it assesses whether these various partnerships are akin to mergers from a regulatory standpoint, and whether it might impact competition in the U.K.’s fast-growing AI industry.<\/p>\n “Foundation models have the potential to fundamentally impact the way we all live and work, including products and services across so many U.K. sectors \u2013 healthcare, energy, transport, finance and more,” Bamford said in a statement. “So open, fair, and effective competition in foundation model markets is critical to making sure the full benefits of this transformation are realised by people and businesses in the UK, as well as our wider economy where technology has a huge role to play in growth and productivity.”<\/p>\nCompetition<\/h2>\n The UK has previously noted concerns<\/a> around how the forging of partnerships involving “key players” in the foundation model space could help the “incumbent technology firms” (i.e. Big Tech) protect themselves from competition.\u00a0<\/span>While a straight forward acquisition would undoubtedly draw regulatory scrutiny, partnerships, investments, and “acqui-hires” could be a way of circumventing this oversight — or so the argument goes.<\/p>\n Microsoft’s investment in, and close partnership with<\/a>, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI attracted the CMA’s scrutiny late last year<\/a>, with the regulator launching a formal “invitation to comment” aimed at relevant stakeholders in the AI and business spheres. The European Commission (EC) followed suit with a similar investigation in January<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n Much has happened since then though. Microsoft hired the core team behind Inflection AI<\/a>, a U.S.-based OpenAI rival it had previously invested in. Earlier this month Microsoft launched a new London AI hub<\/a> fronted by former Inflection and DeepMind scientist Jordan Hoffmann.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Microsoft also recently invested in Mistral AI<\/a>, a French AI startup (and double unicorn<\/a>) working on foundational models.<\/p>\n A Microsoft spokesperson said that it will provide all the information needed by the CMA to complete its inquiries swiftly.<\/p>\n “We remain confident that common business practices such as the hiring of talent or making a fractional investment in an AI startup promote competition and are not the same as a merger,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Amazon, for its part, <\/span>recently completed<\/a>a $4 billion investment in Anthropic — another U.S.-based AI company working on large language models.<\/span><\/p>\n An Amazon spokesperson called the CMA’s move to review a collaboration of this type “unprecedented,” particularly when its partnership with Anthropic doesn’t give it a seat on the company’s board or even an observer’s role — unlike Microsoft, which did eventually procure<\/a> a non-voting “observer” role on OpenAI’s board last year. The spokesperson also noted that it isn’t restricting Anthropic’s ability to run models across different clouds.<\/p>\n “By investing in Anthropic, which has just released its industry-best new Claude 3 models<\/a>, we\u2019re helping make the generative AI segment more competitive than it\u2019s been the last couple years,” the spokesperson said in a statement issued to TechCrunch. “And, customers are very excited about the opportunities this collaboration is providing them. We\u2019re confident that the facts speak for themselves, and hope the CMA agrees to resolve this quickly.”<\/p>\n The CMA’s initial invitation to comment runs from today through May 9, a period known as “pre-notification.” This may lead to a formal “phase 1” review that will engage the target companies directly — in this case, Microsoft and Amazon. The whole phase 1 review period, if it progresses to that, must be completed within 40 days after which it must decide whether the partnerships qualify as a “relevant merger.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching preliminary enquiries into whether the close-knit tie-ups and hiring practices involving Microsoft, Amazon and a trio of AI startups falls within the scope of its merger rules — and whether the arrangements could impact competition in the U.K. market. The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574560,"featured_media":2695815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"96ed2dfe-6c46-3264-bdcd-583b32e486c3","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:16:06Z","apple_news_api_id":"72aad16f-91da-444f-b263-f478ae54b1ed","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:09:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AcqrRb5HaRE-yY_R4rlSx7Q","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577065682],"tags":[6602,576886827,576679667,577160407,637,577155789],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK probes Amazon and Microsoft over AI partnerships with Mistral, Anthropic, and Inflection | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
At the same time, governance around so-called “foundational models” (also “foundation” or “frontier” models) has also been on the regulatory agenda in Europe and elsewhere. Foundation models are basically the underlying infrastructure on which other AI systems can be built, serving as large-scale models that can be used for a variety of tasks.<\/p>\n
The CMA’s executive director of mergers, Joel Bamford, said that it’s inviting comments from relevant parties as part of its evidence gathering, as it assesses whether these various partnerships are akin to mergers from a regulatory standpoint, and whether it might impact competition in the U.K.’s fast-growing AI industry.<\/p>\n
“Foundation models have the potential to fundamentally impact the way we all live and work, including products and services across so many U.K. sectors \u2013 healthcare, energy, transport, finance and more,” Bamford said in a statement. “So open, fair, and effective competition in foundation model markets is critical to making sure the full benefits of this transformation are realised by people and businesses in the UK, as well as our wider economy where technology has a huge role to play in growth and productivity.”<\/p>\nCompetition<\/h2>\n The UK has previously noted concerns<\/a> around how the forging of partnerships involving “key players” in the foundation model space could help the “incumbent technology firms” (i.e. Big Tech) protect themselves from competition.\u00a0<\/span>While a straight forward acquisition would undoubtedly draw regulatory scrutiny, partnerships, investments, and “acqui-hires” could be a way of circumventing this oversight — or so the argument goes.<\/p>\n Microsoft’s investment in, and close partnership with<\/a>, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI attracted the CMA’s scrutiny late last year<\/a>, with the regulator launching a formal “invitation to comment” aimed at relevant stakeholders in the AI and business spheres. The European Commission (EC) followed suit with a similar investigation in January<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n Much has happened since then though. Microsoft hired the core team behind Inflection AI<\/a>, a U.S.-based OpenAI rival it had previously invested in. Earlier this month Microsoft launched a new London AI hub<\/a> fronted by former Inflection and DeepMind scientist Jordan Hoffmann.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Microsoft also recently invested in Mistral AI<\/a>, a French AI startup (and double unicorn<\/a>) working on foundational models.<\/p>\n A Microsoft spokesperson said that it will provide all the information needed by the CMA to complete its inquiries swiftly.<\/p>\n “We remain confident that common business practices such as the hiring of talent or making a fractional investment in an AI startup promote competition and are not the same as a merger,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Amazon, for its part, <\/span>recently completed<\/a>a $4 billion investment in Anthropic — another U.S.-based AI company working on large language models.<\/span><\/p>\n An Amazon spokesperson called the CMA’s move to review a collaboration of this type “unprecedented,” particularly when its partnership with Anthropic doesn’t give it a seat on the company’s board or even an observer’s role — unlike Microsoft, which did eventually procure<\/a> a non-voting “observer” role on OpenAI’s board last year. The spokesperson also noted that it isn’t restricting Anthropic’s ability to run models across different clouds.<\/p>\n “By investing in Anthropic, which has just released its industry-best new Claude 3 models<\/a>, we\u2019re helping make the generative AI segment more competitive than it\u2019s been the last couple years,” the spokesperson said in a statement issued to TechCrunch. “And, customers are very excited about the opportunities this collaboration is providing them. We\u2019re confident that the facts speak for themselves, and hope the CMA agrees to resolve this quickly.”<\/p>\n The CMA’s initial invitation to comment runs from today through May 9, a period known as “pre-notification.” This may lead to a formal “phase 1” review that will engage the target companies directly — in this case, Microsoft and Amazon. The whole phase 1 review period, if it progresses to that, must be completed within 40 days after which it must decide whether the partnerships qualify as a “relevant merger.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching preliminary enquiries into whether the close-knit tie-ups and hiring practices involving Microsoft, Amazon and a trio of AI startups falls within the scope of its merger rules — and whether the arrangements could impact competition in the U.K. market. The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574560,"featured_media":2695815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"96ed2dfe-6c46-3264-bdcd-583b32e486c3","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:16:06Z","apple_news_api_id":"72aad16f-91da-444f-b263-f478ae54b1ed","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:09:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AcqrRb5HaRE-yY_R4rlSx7Q","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577065682],"tags":[6602,576886827,576679667,577160407,637,577155789],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK probes Amazon and Microsoft over AI partnerships with Mistral, Anthropic, and Inflection | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
The UK has previously noted concerns<\/a> around how the forging of partnerships involving “key players” in the foundation model space could help the “incumbent technology firms” (i.e. Big Tech) protect themselves from competition.\u00a0<\/span>While a straight forward acquisition would undoubtedly draw regulatory scrutiny, partnerships, investments, and “acqui-hires” could be a way of circumventing this oversight — or so the argument goes.<\/p>\n Microsoft’s investment in, and close partnership with<\/a>, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI attracted the CMA’s scrutiny late last year<\/a>, with the regulator launching a formal “invitation to comment” aimed at relevant stakeholders in the AI and business spheres. The European Commission (EC) followed suit with a similar investigation in January<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n Much has happened since then though. Microsoft hired the core team behind Inflection AI<\/a>, a U.S.-based OpenAI rival it had previously invested in. Earlier this month Microsoft launched a new London AI hub<\/a> fronted by former Inflection and DeepMind scientist Jordan Hoffmann.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Microsoft also recently invested in Mistral AI<\/a>, a French AI startup (and double unicorn<\/a>) working on foundational models.<\/p>\n A Microsoft spokesperson said that it will provide all the information needed by the CMA to complete its inquiries swiftly.<\/p>\n “We remain confident that common business practices such as the hiring of talent or making a fractional investment in an AI startup promote competition and are not the same as a merger,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Amazon, for its part, <\/span>recently completed<\/a>a $4 billion investment in Anthropic — another U.S.-based AI company working on large language models.<\/span><\/p>\n An Amazon spokesperson called the CMA’s move to review a collaboration of this type “unprecedented,” particularly when its partnership with Anthropic doesn’t give it a seat on the company’s board or even an observer’s role — unlike Microsoft, which did eventually procure<\/a> a non-voting “observer” role on OpenAI’s board last year. The spokesperson also noted that it isn’t restricting Anthropic’s ability to run models across different clouds.<\/p>\n “By investing in Anthropic, which has just released its industry-best new Claude 3 models<\/a>, we\u2019re helping make the generative AI segment more competitive than it\u2019s been the last couple years,” the spokesperson said in a statement issued to TechCrunch. “And, customers are very excited about the opportunities this collaboration is providing them. We\u2019re confident that the facts speak for themselves, and hope the CMA agrees to resolve this quickly.”<\/p>\n The CMA’s initial invitation to comment runs from today through May 9, a period known as “pre-notification.” This may lead to a formal “phase 1” review that will engage the target companies directly — in this case, Microsoft and Amazon. The whole phase 1 review period, if it progresses to that, must be completed within 40 days after which it must decide whether the partnerships qualify as a “relevant merger.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching preliminary enquiries into whether the close-knit tie-ups and hiring practices involving Microsoft, Amazon and a trio of AI startups falls within the scope of its merger rules — and whether the arrangements could impact competition in the U.K. market. The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574560,"featured_media":2695815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"96ed2dfe-6c46-3264-bdcd-583b32e486c3","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:16:06Z","apple_news_api_id":"72aad16f-91da-444f-b263-f478ae54b1ed","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:09:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AcqrRb5HaRE-yY_R4rlSx7Q","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577065682],"tags":[6602,576886827,576679667,577160407,637,577155789],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK probes Amazon and Microsoft over AI partnerships with Mistral, Anthropic, and Inflection | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Microsoft’s investment in, and close partnership with<\/a>, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI attracted the CMA’s scrutiny late last year<\/a>, with the regulator launching a formal “invitation to comment” aimed at relevant stakeholders in the AI and business spheres. The European Commission (EC) followed suit with a similar investigation in January<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n Much has happened since then though. Microsoft hired the core team behind Inflection AI<\/a>, a U.S.-based OpenAI rival it had previously invested in. Earlier this month Microsoft launched a new London AI hub<\/a> fronted by former Inflection and DeepMind scientist Jordan Hoffmann.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Microsoft also recently invested in Mistral AI<\/a>, a French AI startup (and double unicorn<\/a>) working on foundational models.<\/p>\n A Microsoft spokesperson said that it will provide all the information needed by the CMA to complete its inquiries swiftly.<\/p>\n “We remain confident that common business practices such as the hiring of talent or making a fractional investment in an AI startup promote competition and are not the same as a merger,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Amazon, for its part, <\/span>recently completed<\/a>a $4 billion investment in Anthropic — another U.S.-based AI company working on large language models.<\/span><\/p>\n An Amazon spokesperson called the CMA’s move to review a collaboration of this type “unprecedented,” particularly when its partnership with Anthropic doesn’t give it a seat on the company’s board or even an observer’s role — unlike Microsoft, which did eventually procure<\/a> a non-voting “observer” role on OpenAI’s board last year. The spokesperson also noted that it isn’t restricting Anthropic’s ability to run models across different clouds.<\/p>\n “By investing in Anthropic, which has just released its industry-best new Claude 3 models<\/a>, we\u2019re helping make the generative AI segment more competitive than it\u2019s been the last couple years,” the spokesperson said in a statement issued to TechCrunch. “And, customers are very excited about the opportunities this collaboration is providing them. We\u2019re confident that the facts speak for themselves, and hope the CMA agrees to resolve this quickly.”<\/p>\n The CMA’s initial invitation to comment runs from today through May 9, a period known as “pre-notification.” This may lead to a formal “phase 1” review that will engage the target companies directly — in this case, Microsoft and Amazon. The whole phase 1 review period, if it progresses to that, must be completed within 40 days after which it must decide whether the partnerships qualify as a “relevant merger.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching preliminary enquiries into whether the close-knit tie-ups and hiring practices involving Microsoft, Amazon and a trio of AI startups falls within the scope of its merger rules — and whether the arrangements could impact competition in the U.K. market. The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574560,"featured_media":2695815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"96ed2dfe-6c46-3264-bdcd-583b32e486c3","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:16:06Z","apple_news_api_id":"72aad16f-91da-444f-b263-f478ae54b1ed","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:09:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AcqrRb5HaRE-yY_R4rlSx7Q","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577065682],"tags":[6602,576886827,576679667,577160407,637,577155789],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK probes Amazon and Microsoft over AI partnerships with Mistral, Anthropic, and Inflection | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Much has happened since then though. Microsoft hired the core team behind Inflection AI<\/a>, a U.S.-based OpenAI rival it had previously invested in. Earlier this month Microsoft launched a new London AI hub<\/a> fronted by former Inflection and DeepMind scientist Jordan Hoffmann.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Microsoft also recently invested in Mistral AI<\/a>, a French AI startup (and double unicorn<\/a>) working on foundational models.<\/p>\n A Microsoft spokesperson said that it will provide all the information needed by the CMA to complete its inquiries swiftly.<\/p>\n “We remain confident that common business practices such as the hiring of talent or making a fractional investment in an AI startup promote competition and are not the same as a merger,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Amazon, for its part, <\/span>recently completed<\/a>a $4 billion investment in Anthropic — another U.S.-based AI company working on large language models.<\/span><\/p>\n An Amazon spokesperson called the CMA’s move to review a collaboration of this type “unprecedented,” particularly when its partnership with Anthropic doesn’t give it a seat on the company’s board or even an observer’s role — unlike Microsoft, which did eventually procure<\/a> a non-voting “observer” role on OpenAI’s board last year. The spokesperson also noted that it isn’t restricting Anthropic’s ability to run models across different clouds.<\/p>\n “By investing in Anthropic, which has just released its industry-best new Claude 3 models<\/a>, we\u2019re helping make the generative AI segment more competitive than it\u2019s been the last couple years,” the spokesperson said in a statement issued to TechCrunch. “And, customers are very excited about the opportunities this collaboration is providing them. We\u2019re confident that the facts speak for themselves, and hope the CMA agrees to resolve this quickly.”<\/p>\n The CMA’s initial invitation to comment runs from today through May 9, a period known as “pre-notification.” This may lead to a formal “phase 1” review that will engage the target companies directly — in this case, Microsoft and Amazon. The whole phase 1 review period, if it progresses to that, must be completed within 40 days after which it must decide whether the partnerships qualify as a “relevant merger.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching preliminary enquiries into whether the close-knit tie-ups and hiring practices involving Microsoft, Amazon and a trio of AI startups falls within the scope of its merger rules — and whether the arrangements could impact competition in the U.K. market. The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574560,"featured_media":2695815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"96ed2dfe-6c46-3264-bdcd-583b32e486c3","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:16:06Z","apple_news_api_id":"72aad16f-91da-444f-b263-f478ae54b1ed","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:09:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AcqrRb5HaRE-yY_R4rlSx7Q","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577065682],"tags":[6602,576886827,576679667,577160407,637,577155789],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK probes Amazon and Microsoft over AI partnerships with Mistral, Anthropic, and Inflection | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Elsewhere, Microsoft also recently invested in Mistral AI<\/a>, a French AI startup (and double unicorn<\/a>) working on foundational models.<\/p>\n A Microsoft spokesperson said that it will provide all the information needed by the CMA to complete its inquiries swiftly.<\/p>\n “We remain confident that common business practices such as the hiring of talent or making a fractional investment in an AI startup promote competition and are not the same as a merger,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Amazon, for its part, <\/span>recently completed<\/a>a $4 billion investment in Anthropic — another U.S.-based AI company working on large language models.<\/span><\/p>\n An Amazon spokesperson called the CMA’s move to review a collaboration of this type “unprecedented,” particularly when its partnership with Anthropic doesn’t give it a seat on the company’s board or even an observer’s role — unlike Microsoft, which did eventually procure<\/a> a non-voting “observer” role on OpenAI’s board last year. The spokesperson also noted that it isn’t restricting Anthropic’s ability to run models across different clouds.<\/p>\n “By investing in Anthropic, which has just released its industry-best new Claude 3 models<\/a>, we\u2019re helping make the generative AI segment more competitive than it\u2019s been the last couple years,” the spokesperson said in a statement issued to TechCrunch. “And, customers are very excited about the opportunities this collaboration is providing them. We\u2019re confident that the facts speak for themselves, and hope the CMA agrees to resolve this quickly.”<\/p>\n The CMA’s initial invitation to comment runs from today through May 9, a period known as “pre-notification.” This may lead to a formal “phase 1” review that will engage the target companies directly — in this case, Microsoft and Amazon. The whole phase 1 review period, if it progresses to that, must be completed within 40 days after which it must decide whether the partnerships qualify as a “relevant merger.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching preliminary enquiries into whether the close-knit tie-ups and hiring practices involving Microsoft, Amazon and a trio of AI startups falls within the scope of its merger rules — and whether the arrangements could impact competition in the U.K. market. The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574560,"featured_media":2695815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"96ed2dfe-6c46-3264-bdcd-583b32e486c3","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:16:06Z","apple_news_api_id":"72aad16f-91da-444f-b263-f478ae54b1ed","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:09:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AcqrRb5HaRE-yY_R4rlSx7Q","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577065682],"tags":[6602,576886827,576679667,577160407,637,577155789],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK probes Amazon and Microsoft over AI partnerships with Mistral, Anthropic, and Inflection | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
A Microsoft spokesperson said that it will provide all the information needed by the CMA to complete its inquiries swiftly.<\/p>\n
“We remain confident that common business practices such as the hiring of talent or making a fractional investment in an AI startup promote competition and are not the same as a merger,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Amazon, for its part, <\/span>recently completed<\/a>a $4 billion investment in Anthropic — another U.S.-based AI company working on large language models.<\/span><\/p>\n An Amazon spokesperson called the CMA’s move to review a collaboration of this type “unprecedented,” particularly when its partnership with Anthropic doesn’t give it a seat on the company’s board or even an observer’s role — unlike Microsoft, which did eventually procure<\/a> a non-voting “observer” role on OpenAI’s board last year. The spokesperson also noted that it isn’t restricting Anthropic’s ability to run models across different clouds.<\/p>\n “By investing in Anthropic, which has just released its industry-best new Claude 3 models<\/a>, we\u2019re helping make the generative AI segment more competitive than it\u2019s been the last couple years,” the spokesperson said in a statement issued to TechCrunch. “And, customers are very excited about the opportunities this collaboration is providing them. We\u2019re confident that the facts speak for themselves, and hope the CMA agrees to resolve this quickly.”<\/p>\n The CMA’s initial invitation to comment runs from today through May 9, a period known as “pre-notification.” This may lead to a formal “phase 1” review that will engage the target companies directly — in this case, Microsoft and Amazon. The whole phase 1 review period, if it progresses to that, must be completed within 40 days after which it must decide whether the partnerships qualify as a “relevant merger.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching preliminary enquiries into whether the close-knit tie-ups and hiring practices involving Microsoft, Amazon and a trio of AI startups falls within the scope of its merger rules — and whether the arrangements could impact competition in the U.K. market. The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574560,"featured_media":2695815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"96ed2dfe-6c46-3264-bdcd-583b32e486c3","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:16:06Z","apple_news_api_id":"72aad16f-91da-444f-b263-f478ae54b1ed","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:09:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AcqrRb5HaRE-yY_R4rlSx7Q","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577065682],"tags":[6602,576886827,576679667,577160407,637,577155789],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK probes Amazon and Microsoft over AI partnerships with Mistral, Anthropic, and Inflection | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
An Amazon spokesperson called the CMA’s move to review a collaboration of this type “unprecedented,” particularly when its partnership with Anthropic doesn’t give it a seat on the company’s board or even an observer’s role — unlike Microsoft, which did eventually procure<\/a> a non-voting “observer” role on OpenAI’s board last year. The spokesperson also noted that it isn’t restricting Anthropic’s ability to run models across different clouds.<\/p>\n “By investing in Anthropic, which has just released its industry-best new Claude 3 models<\/a>, we\u2019re helping make the generative AI segment more competitive than it\u2019s been the last couple years,” the spokesperson said in a statement issued to TechCrunch. “And, customers are very excited about the opportunities this collaboration is providing them. We\u2019re confident that the facts speak for themselves, and hope the CMA agrees to resolve this quickly.”<\/p>\n The CMA’s initial invitation to comment runs from today through May 9, a period known as “pre-notification.” This may lead to a formal “phase 1” review that will engage the target companies directly — in this case, Microsoft and Amazon. The whole phase 1 review period, if it progresses to that, must be completed within 40 days after which it must decide whether the partnerships qualify as a “relevant merger.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching preliminary enquiries into whether the close-knit tie-ups and hiring practices involving Microsoft, Amazon and a trio of AI startups falls within the scope of its merger rules — and whether the arrangements could impact competition in the U.K. market. The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574560,"featured_media":2695815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"96ed2dfe-6c46-3264-bdcd-583b32e486c3","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:16:06Z","apple_news_api_id":"72aad16f-91da-444f-b263-f478ae54b1ed","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:09:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AcqrRb5HaRE-yY_R4rlSx7Q","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577065682],"tags":[6602,576886827,576679667,577160407,637,577155789],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK probes Amazon and Microsoft over AI partnerships with Mistral, Anthropic, and Inflection | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
“By investing in Anthropic, which has just released its industry-best new Claude 3 models<\/a>, we\u2019re helping make the generative AI segment more competitive than it\u2019s been the last couple years,” the spokesperson said in a statement issued to TechCrunch. “And, customers are very excited about the opportunities this collaboration is providing them. We\u2019re confident that the facts speak for themselves, and hope the CMA agrees to resolve this quickly.”<\/p>\n The CMA’s initial invitation to comment runs from today through May 9, a period known as “pre-notification.” This may lead to a formal “phase 1” review that will engage the target companies directly — in this case, Microsoft and Amazon. The whole phase 1 review period, if it progresses to that, must be completed within 40 days after which it must decide whether the partnerships qualify as a “relevant merger.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching preliminary enquiries into whether the close-knit tie-ups and hiring practices involving Microsoft, Amazon and a trio of AI startups falls within the scope of its merger rules — and whether the arrangements could impact competition in the U.K. market. The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574560,"featured_media":2695815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"96ed2dfe-6c46-3264-bdcd-583b32e486c3","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:16:06Z","apple_news_api_id":"72aad16f-91da-444f-b263-f478ae54b1ed","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:09:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AcqrRb5HaRE-yY_R4rlSx7Q","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577065682],"tags":[6602,576886827,576679667,577160407,637,577155789],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK probes Amazon and Microsoft over AI partnerships with Mistral, Anthropic, and Inflection | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
The CMA’s initial invitation to comment runs from today through May 9, a period known as “pre-notification.” This may lead to a formal “phase 1” review that will engage the target companies directly — in this case, Microsoft and Amazon. The whole phase 1 review period, if it progresses to that, must be completed within 40 days after which it must decide whether the partnerships qualify as a “relevant merger.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching preliminary enquiries into whether the close-knit tie-ups and hiring practices involving Microsoft, Amazon and a trio of AI startups falls within the scope of its merger rules — and whether the arrangements could impact competition in the U.K. market. The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574560,"featured_media":2695815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"96ed2dfe-6c46-3264-bdcd-583b32e486c3","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T12:16:06Z","apple_news_api_id":"72aad16f-91da-444f-b263-f478ae54b1ed","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T13:09:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AcqrRb5HaRE-yY_R4rlSx7Q","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577065682],"tags":[6602,576886827,576679667,577160407,637,577155789],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK probes Amazon and Microsoft over AI partnerships with Mistral, Anthropic, and Inflection | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
The Mistral AI logo is seen displayed on a laptop screen. <\/p>\n"},"alt_text":"The Mistral AI logo is seen displayed on a laptop screen.","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","media_details":{"width":1920,"height":1081,"file":"2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg","filesize":439787,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?resize=150,84","width":150,"height":84,"filesize":439787,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?w=150"},"medium":{"file":"GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?resize=300,169","width":300,"height":169,"filesize":439787,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?w=300"},"medium_large":{"file":"GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?resize=768,432","width":768,"height":432,"filesize":439787,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?w=1024"},"large":{"file":"GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?resize=680,383","width":680,"height":383,"filesize":439787,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?w=680"},"1536x1536":{"file":"GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?resize=1536,865","width":1536,"height":865,"filesize":439787,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?w=1536"},"tc-social-image":{"file":"GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?resize=1200,676","width":1200,"height":676,"filesize":439787,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?w=1200"},"guest-author-32":{"file":"GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?resize=32,32","width":32,"height":32,"filesize":439787,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?w=32&h=32&crop=1"},"guest-author-50":{"file":"GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?resize=50,50","width":50,"height":50,"filesize":439787,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?w=50&h=50&crop=1"},"guest-author-64":{"file":"GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?resize=64,64","width":64,"height":64,"filesize":439787,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?w=64&h=64&crop=1"},"guest-author-96":{"file":"GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?resize=96,96","width":96,"height":96,"filesize":439787,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?w=96&h=96&crop=1"},"guest-author-128":{"file":"GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?resize=128,128","width":128,"height":128,"filesize":439787,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?w=128&h=128&crop=1"},"concierge-thumb":{"file":"GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?resize=50,28","width":50,"height":28,"filesize":439787,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg?w=50"},"full":{"file":"GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg","width":1024,"height":577,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"2.8","credit":"SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images","camera":"ILCE-6400","caption":"BRAZIL - 2024\/04\/15: In this photo illustration, the Mistral AI logo is seen displayed on a laptop screen. (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1713139200","copyright":"\u00a9 2024 SOPA Images","focal_length":"50","iso":"125","shutter_speed":"0.02","title":"In this photo illustration, the Mistral AI logo is seen","orientation":"1","keywords":["mistral ai","logos","brand","device"]}},"source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147859992-e1713960898378.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2695815"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/attachment"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2695815"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/133574560"}]}}],"wp:term":[[{"id":577047203,"description":"News coverage on artificial intelligence and machine learning tech, the companies building them, and the ethical issues AI raises today. This encompasses generative AI, including large language models, text-to-image and text-to-video models; speech recognition and generation; and predictive analytics.","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/category\/artificial-intelligence\/","name":"AI","slug":"artificial-intelligence","taxonomy":"category","parent":0,"yoast_head":"\nAI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n
Madica<\/a>, an investment program launched by US-based investor Flourish Ventures<\/a> to back pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 ventures by the end of the year, ramping up its funding efforts after closing three initial deals.<\/p>\n Madica disclosed the plans to TechCrunch indicating accelerated investing in the coming year as it eyes up to 30 startups by the end of its three-year program, which started mid last year, after launch late 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n Announced today, the program\u2019s initial investees include Kola Market<\/a>, a B2B platform founded by Marie-Reine Seshie<\/a> to help SMEs grow their sales and simplify their business operations. Others are GoBEBA<\/a>, a Kenyan on-demand retailer of household goods founded by Lesley Mbogo<\/a> and Peter Ndiang\u2019ui<\/a>, and Newform Foods<\/a> (formerly Mzansi Meat) a South African cultivated meat startup founded by Brett Thompson<\/a> and Tasneem Karodia<\/a>.<\/p>\n More are set to join the program, as Madica explores potential deals in budding markets such as Tunisia, Morocco, Uganda, DRC, Rwanda and Ethiopia. This is in line with its plan to reach startups in diverse sectors and markets, as well as those run by underrepresented and underfunded founders. Madica is further looking beyond fintechs, the most-funded sector in Africa, and is also keen on backing startups by women founders (or where at least one founder is a woman), a demographic that continues to receive measly VC funding.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that with the number of challenges that exist across the continent, it\u2019s the entrepreneurs who are in those markets that understand the context and have lived experiences around those issues that are best positioned to solve those challenges. The point of the Madica program is to actually prove and show that it\u2019s possible to find founders that are building good businesses but don\u2019t fit the usual homogeneous group,\u201d said Emmanuel Adegboye<\/a>, Head of Madica.<\/p>\n Madica invests upfront, to a tune of $200,000, once a venture is accepted into the program, which runs for up to 18 months, and also involves tailored hands-on support and mentorship. It has set aside $6 million to invest in scalable tech-enabled business and an equal amount to run the first phase of the program, which has rolling admission. The program does not have standard terms for investment making each deal unique.<\/p>\n \u201cOur programming is both very personalized, but also structured in some ways because founders come into the program at different points. The personalized part of the program is super critical because we want to understand what they need and how we can best support them,\u201d said Adegboye.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cBut we also recognize that at every point in time, we’re going to have at least a few companies we’re working with within the program so we have a few parts of the program that are very structured and that cuts across every company within the portfolio,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Adegboye hopes that as the program catalyzes investments in the pre-seed stage across different ecosystems in Africa, Madica can attract more capital into the continent and eventually serve as a reference for global VCs intending to scale operations in the market.<\/p>\n \u201cDepending on how the program goes, there is a possibility that we will double down on it or open it up to other partners to join us and accelerate this mission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Flourish Ventures, a ‘fintech venture fund with a purpose,’ secures $350M in new capital<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Madica, an investment program launched by US-based investor Flourish Ventures to back pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 ventures by the end of the year, ramping up its funding efforts after closing three initial deals. Madica disclosed the plans to TechCrunch indicating accelerated investing in the coming year as it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574490,"featured_media":2695746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"f4747b8c-eb72-3653-8867-a26437bb6db6","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T08:00:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"115b75c5-c9e3-470f-8d74-94c1a28b8092","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T08:15:02Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AEVt1xcnjRw-NdJTBoouAkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20429,577030455],"tags":[2214,576638748,577076566,449550042],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037495],"yoast_head":"\nMadica, a program by Flourish Ventures, steps up pre-seed investing in Africa | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Madica disclosed the plans to TechCrunch indicating accelerated investing in the coming year as it eyes up to 30 startups by the end of its three-year program, which started mid last year, after launch late 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n Announced today, the program\u2019s initial investees include Kola Market<\/a>, a B2B platform founded by Marie-Reine Seshie<\/a> to help SMEs grow their sales and simplify their business operations. Others are GoBEBA<\/a>, a Kenyan on-demand retailer of household goods founded by Lesley Mbogo<\/a> and Peter Ndiang\u2019ui<\/a>, and Newform Foods<\/a> (formerly Mzansi Meat) a South African cultivated meat startup founded by Brett Thompson<\/a> and Tasneem Karodia<\/a>.<\/p>\n More are set to join the program, as Madica explores potential deals in budding markets such as Tunisia, Morocco, Uganda, DRC, Rwanda and Ethiopia. This is in line with its plan to reach startups in diverse sectors and markets, as well as those run by underrepresented and underfunded founders. Madica is further looking beyond fintechs, the most-funded sector in Africa, and is also keen on backing startups by women founders (or where at least one founder is a woman), a demographic that continues to receive measly VC funding.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that with the number of challenges that exist across the continent, it\u2019s the entrepreneurs who are in those markets that understand the context and have lived experiences around those issues that are best positioned to solve those challenges. The point of the Madica program is to actually prove and show that it\u2019s possible to find founders that are building good businesses but don\u2019t fit the usual homogeneous group,\u201d said Emmanuel Adegboye<\/a>, Head of Madica.<\/p>\n Madica invests upfront, to a tune of $200,000, once a venture is accepted into the program, which runs for up to 18 months, and also involves tailored hands-on support and mentorship. It has set aside $6 million to invest in scalable tech-enabled business and an equal amount to run the first phase of the program, which has rolling admission. The program does not have standard terms for investment making each deal unique.<\/p>\n \u201cOur programming is both very personalized, but also structured in some ways because founders come into the program at different points. The personalized part of the program is super critical because we want to understand what they need and how we can best support them,\u201d said Adegboye.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cBut we also recognize that at every point in time, we’re going to have at least a few companies we’re working with within the program so we have a few parts of the program that are very structured and that cuts across every company within the portfolio,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Adegboye hopes that as the program catalyzes investments in the pre-seed stage across different ecosystems in Africa, Madica can attract more capital into the continent and eventually serve as a reference for global VCs intending to scale operations in the market.<\/p>\n \u201cDepending on how the program goes, there is a possibility that we will double down on it or open it up to other partners to join us and accelerate this mission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Flourish Ventures, a ‘fintech venture fund with a purpose,’ secures $350M in new capital<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Madica, an investment program launched by US-based investor Flourish Ventures to back pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 ventures by the end of the year, ramping up its funding efforts after closing three initial deals. Madica disclosed the plans to TechCrunch indicating accelerated investing in the coming year as it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574490,"featured_media":2695746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"f4747b8c-eb72-3653-8867-a26437bb6db6","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T08:00:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"115b75c5-c9e3-470f-8d74-94c1a28b8092","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T08:15:02Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AEVt1xcnjRw-NdJTBoouAkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20429,577030455],"tags":[2214,576638748,577076566,449550042],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037495],"yoast_head":"\nMadica, a program by Flourish Ventures, steps up pre-seed investing in Africa | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Announced today, the program\u2019s initial investees include Kola Market<\/a>, a B2B platform founded by Marie-Reine Seshie<\/a> to help SMEs grow their sales and simplify their business operations. Others are GoBEBA<\/a>, a Kenyan on-demand retailer of household goods founded by Lesley Mbogo<\/a> and Peter Ndiang\u2019ui<\/a>, and Newform Foods<\/a> (formerly Mzansi Meat) a South African cultivated meat startup founded by Brett Thompson<\/a> and Tasneem Karodia<\/a>.<\/p>\n More are set to join the program, as Madica explores potential deals in budding markets such as Tunisia, Morocco, Uganda, DRC, Rwanda and Ethiopia. This is in line with its plan to reach startups in diverse sectors and markets, as well as those run by underrepresented and underfunded founders. Madica is further looking beyond fintechs, the most-funded sector in Africa, and is also keen on backing startups by women founders (or where at least one founder is a woman), a demographic that continues to receive measly VC funding.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that with the number of challenges that exist across the continent, it\u2019s the entrepreneurs who are in those markets that understand the context and have lived experiences around those issues that are best positioned to solve those challenges. The point of the Madica program is to actually prove and show that it\u2019s possible to find founders that are building good businesses but don\u2019t fit the usual homogeneous group,\u201d said Emmanuel Adegboye<\/a>, Head of Madica.<\/p>\n Madica invests upfront, to a tune of $200,000, once a venture is accepted into the program, which runs for up to 18 months, and also involves tailored hands-on support and mentorship. It has set aside $6 million to invest in scalable tech-enabled business and an equal amount to run the first phase of the program, which has rolling admission. The program does not have standard terms for investment making each deal unique.<\/p>\n \u201cOur programming is both very personalized, but also structured in some ways because founders come into the program at different points. The personalized part of the program is super critical because we want to understand what they need and how we can best support them,\u201d said Adegboye.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cBut we also recognize that at every point in time, we’re going to have at least a few companies we’re working with within the program so we have a few parts of the program that are very structured and that cuts across every company within the portfolio,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Adegboye hopes that as the program catalyzes investments in the pre-seed stage across different ecosystems in Africa, Madica can attract more capital into the continent and eventually serve as a reference for global VCs intending to scale operations in the market.<\/p>\n \u201cDepending on how the program goes, there is a possibility that we will double down on it or open it up to other partners to join us and accelerate this mission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Flourish Ventures, a ‘fintech venture fund with a purpose,’ secures $350M in new capital<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Madica, an investment program launched by US-based investor Flourish Ventures to back pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 ventures by the end of the year, ramping up its funding efforts after closing three initial deals. Madica disclosed the plans to TechCrunch indicating accelerated investing in the coming year as it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574490,"featured_media":2695746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"f4747b8c-eb72-3653-8867-a26437bb6db6","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T08:00:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"115b75c5-c9e3-470f-8d74-94c1a28b8092","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T08:15:02Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AEVt1xcnjRw-NdJTBoouAkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20429,577030455],"tags":[2214,576638748,577076566,449550042],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037495],"yoast_head":"\nMadica, a program by Flourish Ventures, steps up pre-seed investing in Africa | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
More are set to join the program, as Madica explores potential deals in budding markets such as Tunisia, Morocco, Uganda, DRC, Rwanda and Ethiopia. This is in line with its plan to reach startups in diverse sectors and markets, as well as those run by underrepresented and underfunded founders. Madica is further looking beyond fintechs, the most-funded sector in Africa, and is also keen on backing startups by women founders (or where at least one founder is a woman), a demographic that continues to receive measly VC funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that with the number of challenges that exist across the continent, it\u2019s the entrepreneurs who are in those markets that understand the context and have lived experiences around those issues that are best positioned to solve those challenges. The point of the Madica program is to actually prove and show that it\u2019s possible to find founders that are building good businesses but don\u2019t fit the usual homogeneous group,\u201d said Emmanuel Adegboye<\/a>, Head of Madica.<\/p>\n Madica invests upfront, to a tune of $200,000, once a venture is accepted into the program, which runs for up to 18 months, and also involves tailored hands-on support and mentorship. It has set aside $6 million to invest in scalable tech-enabled business and an equal amount to run the first phase of the program, which has rolling admission. The program does not have standard terms for investment making each deal unique.<\/p>\n \u201cOur programming is both very personalized, but also structured in some ways because founders come into the program at different points. The personalized part of the program is super critical because we want to understand what they need and how we can best support them,\u201d said Adegboye.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cBut we also recognize that at every point in time, we’re going to have at least a few companies we’re working with within the program so we have a few parts of the program that are very structured and that cuts across every company within the portfolio,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Adegboye hopes that as the program catalyzes investments in the pre-seed stage across different ecosystems in Africa, Madica can attract more capital into the continent and eventually serve as a reference for global VCs intending to scale operations in the market.<\/p>\n \u201cDepending on how the program goes, there is a possibility that we will double down on it or open it up to other partners to join us and accelerate this mission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Flourish Ventures, a ‘fintech venture fund with a purpose,’ secures $350M in new capital<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Madica, an investment program launched by US-based investor Flourish Ventures to back pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 ventures by the end of the year, ramping up its funding efforts after closing three initial deals. Madica disclosed the plans to TechCrunch indicating accelerated investing in the coming year as it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574490,"featured_media":2695746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"f4747b8c-eb72-3653-8867-a26437bb6db6","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T08:00:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"115b75c5-c9e3-470f-8d74-94c1a28b8092","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T08:15:02Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AEVt1xcnjRw-NdJTBoouAkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20429,577030455],"tags":[2214,576638748,577076566,449550042],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037495],"yoast_head":"\nMadica, a program by Flourish Ventures, steps up pre-seed investing in Africa | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Madica invests upfront, to a tune of $200,000, once a venture is accepted into the program, which runs for up to 18 months, and also involves tailored hands-on support and mentorship. It has set aside $6 million to invest in scalable tech-enabled business and an equal amount to run the first phase of the program, which has rolling admission. The program does not have standard terms for investment making each deal unique.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur programming is both very personalized, but also structured in some ways because founders come into the program at different points. The personalized part of the program is super critical because we want to understand what they need and how we can best support them,\u201d said Adegboye.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cBut we also recognize that at every point in time, we’re going to have at least a few companies we’re working with within the program so we have a few parts of the program that are very structured and that cuts across every company within the portfolio,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Adegboye hopes that as the program catalyzes investments in the pre-seed stage across different ecosystems in Africa, Madica can attract more capital into the continent and eventually serve as a reference for global VCs intending to scale operations in the market.<\/p>\n \u201cDepending on how the program goes, there is a possibility that we will double down on it or open it up to other partners to join us and accelerate this mission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Flourish Ventures, a ‘fintech venture fund with a purpose,’ secures $350M in new capital<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Madica, an investment program launched by US-based investor Flourish Ventures to back pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 ventures by the end of the year, ramping up its funding efforts after closing three initial deals. Madica disclosed the plans to TechCrunch indicating accelerated investing in the coming year as it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574490,"featured_media":2695746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"f4747b8c-eb72-3653-8867-a26437bb6db6","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T08:00:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"115b75c5-c9e3-470f-8d74-94c1a28b8092","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T08:15:02Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AEVt1xcnjRw-NdJTBoouAkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20429,577030455],"tags":[2214,576638748,577076566,449550042],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037495],"yoast_head":"\nMadica, a program by Flourish Ventures, steps up pre-seed investing in Africa | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
\u201cBut we also recognize that at every point in time, we’re going to have at least a few companies we’re working with within the program so we have a few parts of the program that are very structured and that cuts across every company within the portfolio,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Adegboye hopes that as the program catalyzes investments in the pre-seed stage across different ecosystems in Africa, Madica can attract more capital into the continent and eventually serve as a reference for global VCs intending to scale operations in the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cDepending on how the program goes, there is a possibility that we will double down on it or open it up to other partners to join us and accelerate this mission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Flourish Ventures, a ‘fintech venture fund with a purpose,’ secures $350M in new capital<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Madica, an investment program launched by US-based investor Flourish Ventures to back pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 ventures by the end of the year, ramping up its funding efforts after closing three initial deals. Madica disclosed the plans to TechCrunch indicating accelerated investing in the coming year as it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574490,"featured_media":2695746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"f4747b8c-eb72-3653-8867-a26437bb6db6","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T08:00:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"115b75c5-c9e3-470f-8d74-94c1a28b8092","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T08:15:02Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AEVt1xcnjRw-NdJTBoouAkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20429,577030455],"tags":[2214,576638748,577076566,449550042],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037495],"yoast_head":"\nMadica, a program by Flourish Ventures, steps up pre-seed investing in Africa | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Flourish Ventures, a ‘fintech venture fund with a purpose,’ secures $350M in new capital<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Madica, an investment program launched by US-based investor Flourish Ventures to back pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 ventures by the end of the year, ramping up its funding efforts after closing three initial deals. Madica disclosed the plans to TechCrunch indicating accelerated investing in the coming year as it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574490,"featured_media":2695746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"f4747b8c-eb72-3653-8867-a26437bb6db6","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T08:00:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"115b75c5-c9e3-470f-8d74-94c1a28b8092","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T08:15:02Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AEVt1xcnjRw-NdJTBoouAkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20429,577030455],"tags":[2214,576638748,577076566,449550042],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037495],"yoast_head":"\nMadica, a program by Flourish Ventures, steps up pre-seed investing in Africa | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
<\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Madica, an investment program launched by US-based investor Flourish Ventures to back pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 ventures by the end of the year, ramping up its funding efforts after closing three initial deals. Madica disclosed the plans to TechCrunch indicating accelerated investing in the coming year as it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574490,"featured_media":2695746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"f4747b8c-eb72-3653-8867-a26437bb6db6","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T08:00:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"115b75c5-c9e3-470f-8d74-94c1a28b8092","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T08:15:02Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AEVt1xcnjRw-NdJTBoouAkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20429,577030455],"tags":[2214,576638748,577076566,449550042],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037495],"yoast_head":"\nMadica, a program by Flourish Ventures, steps up pre-seed investing in Africa | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Madica, an investment program launched by US-based investor Flourish Ventures to back pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 ventures by the end of the year, ramping up its funding efforts after closing three initial deals. Madica disclosed the plans to TechCrunch indicating accelerated investing in the coming year as it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574490,"featured_media":2695746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"f4747b8c-eb72-3653-8867-a26437bb6db6","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-24T08:00:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"115b75c5-c9e3-470f-8d74-94c1a28b8092","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-24T08:15:02Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AEVt1xcnjRw-NdJTBoouAkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20429,577030455],"tags":[2214,576638748,577076566,449550042],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037495],"yoast_head":"\nMadica, a program by Flourish Ventures, steps up pre-seed investing in Africa | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Madica, a program by Flourish Ventures, steps up pre-seed investing in Africa<\/p>\n"},"alt_text":"Madica, a program by Flourish Ventures, steps up pre-seed investing in Africa","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/png","media_details":{"width":2144,"height":1140,"file":"2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png","filesize":1200259,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?resize=150,80","width":150,"height":80,"filesize":1200259,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?w=150"},"medium":{"file":"Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?resize=300,160","width":300,"height":160,"filesize":1200259,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?w=300"},"medium_large":{"file":"Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?resize=768,408","width":768,"height":408,"filesize":1200259,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?w=1024"},"large":{"file":"Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?resize=680,362","width":680,"height":362,"filesize":1200259,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?w=680"},"1536x1536":{"file":"Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?resize=1536,817","width":1536,"height":817,"filesize":1200259,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?w=1536"},"2048x2048":{"file":"Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?resize=2048,1089","width":2048,"height":1089,"filesize":1200259,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?w=2048"},"tc-social-image":{"file":"Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?resize=1200,638","width":1200,"height":638,"filesize":1200259,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?w=1200"},"guest-author-32":{"file":"Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?resize=32,32","width":32,"height":32,"filesize":1200259,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?w=32&h=32&crop=1"},"guest-author-50":{"file":"Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?resize=50,50","width":50,"height":50,"filesize":1200259,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?w=50&h=50&crop=1"},"guest-author-64":{"file":"Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?resize=64,64","width":64,"height":64,"filesize":1200259,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?w=64&h=64&crop=1"},"guest-author-96":{"file":"Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?resize=96,96","width":96,"height":96,"filesize":1200259,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?w=96&h=96&crop=1"},"guest-author-128":{"file":"Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?resize=128,128","width":128,"height":128,"filesize":1200259,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?w=128&h=128&crop=1"},"concierge-thumb":{"file":"Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?resize=50,27","width":50,"height":27,"filesize":1200259,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png?w=50"},"full":{"file":"Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png","width":1024,"height":544,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Madica-team-and-the-portfolio-companies-.-min.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2695746"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/attachment"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2695746"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/133574490"}]}}],"wp:term":[[{"id":20429,"description":"Tech startup news that breaks down the funding, growth, and long-term trajectory of companies across every stage and industry. Startup coverage includes climate, crypto, fintech, SaaS, transportation, and consumer tech.","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/category\/startups\/","name":"Startups","slug":"startups","taxonomy":"category","parent":0,"yoast_head":"\nStartups | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n
An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers<\/span>\u00a0is expected to take a toll on<\/span><\/a>manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0<\/span>Mujin<\/span><\/a>, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0<\/span>Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total funding up to $150 million. SBI Investment led the latest round, with participation from Pegasus Tech Ventures and Accenture, among others. Mujin declined to disclose its valuation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Founded in 2011 by Ross Diankov and Issei Takino, the company has built MujinController, which allows users to deploy and automate various applications for their industrial robots across manufacturing and logistics at a lower cost. CEO Diankov told TechCrunch that he decided to found Mujin in Japan, where many manufacturing and automation tech firms are located.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He describes the software platform as “the definitive brain for robots, an indispensable component that drives their intelligence and capabilities across various industries.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Want the top robotics news in your inbox each week? Sign up for Actuator here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n MujinController currently supports more than 1,000 systems in production and has already been adopted by a number of its strategic partners, including robot original equipment manufacturers like ABB, Fanuc, KUKA, Yaskawa, Universal Robots and Kawasaki, Diankov said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Its platform is designed for picking and palletizing\/de-palletizing e-commerce products. Earlier this year, the company unveiled a truck bot that can “unload trailers and shipping containers.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Japanese logistics firm Paltac automated its manual palletizing process using Mujin Pack. The startup claims that it resulted in doubling productivity and about a 90% reduction in labor requirements of Paltac. Mujin’s precision piece-picking technology also allowed JD.com to solve the challenge of handling expensive, delicate items, according to the outfit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “The MujinController introduces a unique approach to creating robotics applications, leveraging a real-time non-volatile\u00a0<\/span>digital twin<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and offering a suite of perception, planning and control algorithms to digitize the real world and autonomously move robots and other industrial equipment through it,” Diankove said in its statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mujin will use the proceeds for product expansion to develop advanced solutions and applications that cater to evolving market demands and global expansion to extend its reach to new markets and customers across the globe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The company has offices in the U.S., Japan and China with over 300 employees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Fort is working to keep humans safe from industrial robots<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers\u00a0is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0 Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0Mujin, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574478,"featured_media":2594536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"d2eba833-0d50-3b50-a972-a317fef04e2a","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"0cbe0465-1395-4718-b95d-44ff36c26f3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADL4EZROVRxi5XUT_NsJvPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577123751],"tags":[10225548,2062,449551200],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037497,577183555,577037499,577037509],"yoast_head":"\nRobot software firm Mujin raises $85M | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0<\/span>Mujin<\/span><\/a>, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0<\/span>Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total funding up to $150 million. SBI Investment led the latest round, with participation from Pegasus Tech Ventures and Accenture, among others. Mujin declined to disclose its valuation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Founded in 2011 by Ross Diankov and Issei Takino, the company has built MujinController, which allows users to deploy and automate various applications for their industrial robots across manufacturing and logistics at a lower cost. CEO Diankov told TechCrunch that he decided to found Mujin in Japan, where many manufacturing and automation tech firms are located.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He describes the software platform as “the definitive brain for robots, an indispensable component that drives their intelligence and capabilities across various industries.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Want the top robotics news in your inbox each week? Sign up for Actuator here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n MujinController currently supports more than 1,000 systems in production and has already been adopted by a number of its strategic partners, including robot original equipment manufacturers like ABB, Fanuc, KUKA, Yaskawa, Universal Robots and Kawasaki, Diankov said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Its platform is designed for picking and palletizing\/de-palletizing e-commerce products. Earlier this year, the company unveiled a truck bot that can “unload trailers and shipping containers.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Japanese logistics firm Paltac automated its manual palletizing process using Mujin Pack. The startup claims that it resulted in doubling productivity and about a 90% reduction in labor requirements of Paltac. Mujin’s precision piece-picking technology also allowed JD.com to solve the challenge of handling expensive, delicate items, according to the outfit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “The MujinController introduces a unique approach to creating robotics applications, leveraging a real-time non-volatile\u00a0<\/span>digital twin<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and offering a suite of perception, planning and control algorithms to digitize the real world and autonomously move robots and other industrial equipment through it,” Diankove said in its statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mujin will use the proceeds for product expansion to develop advanced solutions and applications that cater to evolving market demands and global expansion to extend its reach to new markets and customers across the globe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The company has offices in the U.S., Japan and China with over 300 employees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Fort is working to keep humans safe from industrial robots<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers\u00a0is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0 Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0Mujin, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574478,"featured_media":2594536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"d2eba833-0d50-3b50-a972-a317fef04e2a","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"0cbe0465-1395-4718-b95d-44ff36c26f3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADL4EZROVRxi5XUT_NsJvPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577123751],"tags":[10225548,2062,449551200],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037497,577183555,577037499,577037509],"yoast_head":"\nRobot software firm Mujin raises $85M | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Founded in 2011 by Ross Diankov and Issei Takino, the company has built MujinController, which allows users to deploy and automate various applications for their industrial robots across manufacturing and logistics at a lower cost. CEO Diankov told TechCrunch that he decided to found Mujin in Japan, where many manufacturing and automation tech firms are located.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He describes the software platform as “the definitive brain for robots, an indispensable component that drives their intelligence and capabilities across various industries.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Want the top robotics news in your inbox each week? Sign up for Actuator here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n MujinController currently supports more than 1,000 systems in production and has already been adopted by a number of its strategic partners, including robot original equipment manufacturers like ABB, Fanuc, KUKA, Yaskawa, Universal Robots and Kawasaki, Diankov said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Its platform is designed for picking and palletizing\/de-palletizing e-commerce products. Earlier this year, the company unveiled a truck bot that can “unload trailers and shipping containers.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Japanese logistics firm Paltac automated its manual palletizing process using Mujin Pack. The startup claims that it resulted in doubling productivity and about a 90% reduction in labor requirements of Paltac. Mujin’s precision piece-picking technology also allowed JD.com to solve the challenge of handling expensive, delicate items, according to the outfit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “The MujinController introduces a unique approach to creating robotics applications, leveraging a real-time non-volatile\u00a0<\/span>digital twin<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and offering a suite of perception, planning and control algorithms to digitize the real world and autonomously move robots and other industrial equipment through it,” Diankove said in its statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mujin will use the proceeds for product expansion to develop advanced solutions and applications that cater to evolving market demands and global expansion to extend its reach to new markets and customers across the globe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The company has offices in the U.S., Japan and China with over 300 employees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Fort is working to keep humans safe from industrial robots<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers\u00a0is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0 Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0Mujin, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574478,"featured_media":2594536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"d2eba833-0d50-3b50-a972-a317fef04e2a","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"0cbe0465-1395-4718-b95d-44ff36c26f3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADL4EZROVRxi5XUT_NsJvPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577123751],"tags":[10225548,2062,449551200],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037497,577183555,577037499,577037509],"yoast_head":"\nRobot software firm Mujin raises $85M | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
He describes the software platform as “the definitive brain for robots, an indispensable component that drives their intelligence and capabilities across various industries.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Want the top robotics news in your inbox each week? Sign up for Actuator here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n MujinController currently supports more than 1,000 systems in production and has already been adopted by a number of its strategic partners, including robot original equipment manufacturers like ABB, Fanuc, KUKA, Yaskawa, Universal Robots and Kawasaki, Diankov said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Its platform is designed for picking and palletizing\/de-palletizing e-commerce products. Earlier this year, the company unveiled a truck bot that can “unload trailers and shipping containers.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Japanese logistics firm Paltac automated its manual palletizing process using Mujin Pack. The startup claims that it resulted in doubling productivity and about a 90% reduction in labor requirements of Paltac. Mujin’s precision piece-picking technology also allowed JD.com to solve the challenge of handling expensive, delicate items, according to the outfit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “The MujinController introduces a unique approach to creating robotics applications, leveraging a real-time non-volatile\u00a0<\/span>digital twin<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and offering a suite of perception, planning and control algorithms to digitize the real world and autonomously move robots and other industrial equipment through it,” Diankove said in its statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mujin will use the proceeds for product expansion to develop advanced solutions and applications that cater to evolving market demands and global expansion to extend its reach to new markets and customers across the globe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The company has offices in the U.S., Japan and China with over 300 employees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Fort is working to keep humans safe from industrial robots<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers\u00a0is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0 Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0Mujin, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574478,"featured_media":2594536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"d2eba833-0d50-3b50-a972-a317fef04e2a","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"0cbe0465-1395-4718-b95d-44ff36c26f3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADL4EZROVRxi5XUT_NsJvPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577123751],"tags":[10225548,2062,449551200],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037497,577183555,577037499,577037509],"yoast_head":"\nRobot software firm Mujin raises $85M | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Want the top robotics news in your inbox each week? Sign up for Actuator here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n MujinController currently supports more than 1,000 systems in production and has already been adopted by a number of its strategic partners, including robot original equipment manufacturers like ABB, Fanuc, KUKA, Yaskawa, Universal Robots and Kawasaki, Diankov said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Its platform is designed for picking and palletizing\/de-palletizing e-commerce products. Earlier this year, the company unveiled a truck bot that can “unload trailers and shipping containers.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Japanese logistics firm Paltac automated its manual palletizing process using Mujin Pack. The startup claims that it resulted in doubling productivity and about a 90% reduction in labor requirements of Paltac. Mujin’s precision piece-picking technology also allowed JD.com to solve the challenge of handling expensive, delicate items, according to the outfit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “The MujinController introduces a unique approach to creating robotics applications, leveraging a real-time non-volatile\u00a0<\/span>digital twin<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and offering a suite of perception, planning and control algorithms to digitize the real world and autonomously move robots and other industrial equipment through it,” Diankove said in its statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mujin will use the proceeds for product expansion to develop advanced solutions and applications that cater to evolving market demands and global expansion to extend its reach to new markets and customers across the globe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The company has offices in the U.S., Japan and China with over 300 employees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Fort is working to keep humans safe from industrial robots<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers\u00a0is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0 Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0Mujin, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574478,"featured_media":2594536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"d2eba833-0d50-3b50-a972-a317fef04e2a","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"0cbe0465-1395-4718-b95d-44ff36c26f3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADL4EZROVRxi5XUT_NsJvPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577123751],"tags":[10225548,2062,449551200],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037497,577183555,577037499,577037509],"yoast_head":"\nRobot software firm Mujin raises $85M | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
MujinController currently supports more than 1,000 systems in production and has already been adopted by a number of its strategic partners, including robot original equipment manufacturers like ABB, Fanuc, KUKA, Yaskawa, Universal Robots and Kawasaki, Diankov said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Its platform is designed for picking and palletizing\/de-palletizing e-commerce products. Earlier this year, the company unveiled a truck bot that can “unload trailers and shipping containers.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Japanese logistics firm Paltac automated its manual palletizing process using Mujin Pack. The startup claims that it resulted in doubling productivity and about a 90% reduction in labor requirements of Paltac. Mujin’s precision piece-picking technology also allowed JD.com to solve the challenge of handling expensive, delicate items, according to the outfit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “The MujinController introduces a unique approach to creating robotics applications, leveraging a real-time non-volatile\u00a0<\/span>digital twin<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and offering a suite of perception, planning and control algorithms to digitize the real world and autonomously move robots and other industrial equipment through it,” Diankove said in its statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mujin will use the proceeds for product expansion to develop advanced solutions and applications that cater to evolving market demands and global expansion to extend its reach to new markets and customers across the globe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The company has offices in the U.S., Japan and China with over 300 employees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Fort is working to keep humans safe from industrial robots<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers\u00a0is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0 Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0Mujin, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574478,"featured_media":2594536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"d2eba833-0d50-3b50-a972-a317fef04e2a","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"0cbe0465-1395-4718-b95d-44ff36c26f3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADL4EZROVRxi5XUT_NsJvPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577123751],"tags":[10225548,2062,449551200],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037497,577183555,577037499,577037509],"yoast_head":"\nRobot software firm Mujin raises $85M | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Its platform is designed for picking and palletizing\/de-palletizing e-commerce products. Earlier this year, the company unveiled a truck bot that can “unload trailers and shipping containers.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Japanese logistics firm Paltac automated its manual palletizing process using Mujin Pack. The startup claims that it resulted in doubling productivity and about a 90% reduction in labor requirements of Paltac. Mujin’s precision piece-picking technology also allowed JD.com to solve the challenge of handling expensive, delicate items, according to the outfit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “The MujinController introduces a unique approach to creating robotics applications, leveraging a real-time non-volatile\u00a0<\/span>digital twin<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and offering a suite of perception, planning and control algorithms to digitize the real world and autonomously move robots and other industrial equipment through it,” Diankove said in its statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mujin will use the proceeds for product expansion to develop advanced solutions and applications that cater to evolving market demands and global expansion to extend its reach to new markets and customers across the globe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The company has offices in the U.S., Japan and China with over 300 employees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Fort is working to keep humans safe from industrial robots<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers\u00a0is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0 Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0Mujin, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574478,"featured_media":2594536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"d2eba833-0d50-3b50-a972-a317fef04e2a","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"0cbe0465-1395-4718-b95d-44ff36c26f3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADL4EZROVRxi5XUT_NsJvPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577123751],"tags":[10225548,2062,449551200],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037497,577183555,577037499,577037509],"yoast_head":"\nRobot software firm Mujin raises $85M | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Japanese logistics firm Paltac automated its manual palletizing process using Mujin Pack. The startup claims that it resulted in doubling productivity and about a 90% reduction in labor requirements of Paltac. Mujin’s precision piece-picking technology also allowed JD.com to solve the challenge of handling expensive, delicate items, according to the outfit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “The MujinController introduces a unique approach to creating robotics applications, leveraging a real-time non-volatile\u00a0<\/span>digital twin<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and offering a suite of perception, planning and control algorithms to digitize the real world and autonomously move robots and other industrial equipment through it,” Diankove said in its statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mujin will use the proceeds for product expansion to develop advanced solutions and applications that cater to evolving market demands and global expansion to extend its reach to new markets and customers across the globe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The company has offices in the U.S., Japan and China with over 300 employees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Fort is working to keep humans safe from industrial robots<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers\u00a0is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0 Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0Mujin, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574478,"featured_media":2594536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"d2eba833-0d50-3b50-a972-a317fef04e2a","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"0cbe0465-1395-4718-b95d-44ff36c26f3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADL4EZROVRxi5XUT_NsJvPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577123751],"tags":[10225548,2062,449551200],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037497,577183555,577037499,577037509],"yoast_head":"\nRobot software firm Mujin raises $85M | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
“The MujinController introduces a unique approach to creating robotics applications, leveraging a real-time non-volatile\u00a0<\/span>digital twin<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and offering a suite of perception, planning and control algorithms to digitize the real world and autonomously move robots and other industrial equipment through it,” Diankove said in its statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mujin will use the proceeds for product expansion to develop advanced solutions and applications that cater to evolving market demands and global expansion to extend its reach to new markets and customers across the globe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The company has offices in the U.S., Japan and China with over 300 employees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Fort is working to keep humans safe from industrial robots<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers\u00a0is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0 Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0Mujin, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574478,"featured_media":2594536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"d2eba833-0d50-3b50-a972-a317fef04e2a","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"0cbe0465-1395-4718-b95d-44ff36c26f3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADL4EZROVRxi5XUT_NsJvPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577123751],"tags":[10225548,2062,449551200],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037497,577183555,577037499,577037509],"yoast_head":"\nRobot software firm Mujin raises $85M | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Mujin will use the proceeds for product expansion to develop advanced solutions and applications that cater to evolving market demands and global expansion to extend its reach to new markets and customers across the globe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The company has offices in the U.S., Japan and China with over 300 employees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Fort is working to keep humans safe from industrial robots<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers\u00a0is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0 Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0Mujin, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574478,"featured_media":2594536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"d2eba833-0d50-3b50-a972-a317fef04e2a","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"0cbe0465-1395-4718-b95d-44ff36c26f3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADL4EZROVRxi5XUT_NsJvPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577123751],"tags":[10225548,2062,449551200],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037497,577183555,577037499,577037509],"yoast_head":"\nRobot software firm Mujin raises $85M | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
The company has offices in the U.S., Japan and China with over 300 employees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n Fort is working to keep humans safe from industrial robots<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers\u00a0is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0 Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0Mujin, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574478,"featured_media":2594536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"d2eba833-0d50-3b50-a972-a317fef04e2a","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"0cbe0465-1395-4718-b95d-44ff36c26f3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADL4EZROVRxi5XUT_NsJvPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577123751],"tags":[10225548,2062,449551200],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037497,577183555,577037499,577037509],"yoast_head":"\nRobot software firm Mujin raises $85M | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Fort is working to keep humans safe from industrial robots<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers\u00a0is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0 Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0Mujin, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574478,"featured_media":2594536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"d2eba833-0d50-3b50-a972-a317fef04e2a","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"0cbe0465-1395-4718-b95d-44ff36c26f3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADL4EZROVRxi5XUT_NsJvPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577123751],"tags":[10225548,2062,449551200],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037497,577183555,577037499,577037509],"yoast_head":"\nRobot software firm Mujin raises $85M | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
<\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers\u00a0is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0 Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0Mujin, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574478,"featured_media":2594536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"d2eba833-0d50-3b50-a972-a317fef04e2a","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"0cbe0465-1395-4718-b95d-44ff36c26f3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADL4EZROVRxi5XUT_NsJvPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577123751],"tags":[10225548,2062,449551200],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037497,577183555,577037499,577037509],"yoast_head":"\nRobot software firm Mujin raises $85M | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Double Stations Truss Robot Palletizer An increasing number of companies are looking to automate as a shortage of skilled workers\u00a0is expected to take a toll on manufacturers through 2030.\u00a0 Tokyo- and Atlanta-based startup\u00a0Mujin, which develops AI-based software for industrial automation, believes that robots can improve productivity and safety.\u00a0Today, the startup is announcing an $85 million Series C, bringing its total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574478,"featured_media":2594536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"d2eba833-0d50-3b50-a972-a317fef04e2a","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"0cbe0465-1395-4718-b95d-44ff36c26f3e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-05T14:59:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADL4EZROVRxi5XUT_NsJvPg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577123751],"tags":[10225548,2062,449551200],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037497,577183555,577037499,577037509],"yoast_head":"\nRobot software firm Mujin raises $85M | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n